Reading Scholarly Articles

1. Reading Scholarly Articles

2. What is a scholarly article? • Authored by professional researcher • Scientist, professor, professional • Published in academic, peer-reviewed journal • Make an argument based on evidence • Original research, review of the literature

3. Difficult Reading • Audience of other researchers and professionals, not for students or lay persons • Heavy jargon • Assumes broad familiarity with the context • Theories, concepts, definitions, people • Heavily imbedded in other articles • A network of articles; “conversations”

4. Making Sense of an article • Understand the context • Who subscribes or reads this journal? • Who is it intended for? • Understand the author’s purpose • Presenting research? • Proposing a theory? • Summarizing literature? • What is the article’s thesis and/or conclusion? • What evidence is used to support it?

5. Scanning an Article • Read abstract if available • Read introduction and conclusion • Skim past body paragraphs to get a feel for the whole • Look at subtitles, sections

6. Not Understanding • Don’t feel bad if you don’t understand the article at first • Make a list of terms, people, concepts, and so on that you don’t understand. • Write down sentences in your notes that seem like conclusions or important points. • Re-read earlier parts as you move along.

7. Evidence • There are many ways to support a thesis. • Logical reasoning • Lab work (experimental data) • Case studies, ethnographies • Surveys • Lore • Secondary research (review of the literature)

8. Exercise • Title of article: • Author(s) of article: • Purpose of article: • Topic: • Main Conclusion: • Important Terms: • Evidence for Main Conclusion: • My Reaction: