Online Campus Library Resources: Find Scholarly Articles

 ELEMENT 

 WHAT IT IS 

WHAT IT TELLS YOU 

Title 

The title presents a concise statement of the theoretical issues investigated. 

What is this article about? 

Abstract 

One paragraph that appears before the article. It provides a summary of the entire article. 

What is this article about?  
What topic is the author studying? What was her primary finding? 

Introduction 

This section introduces the topic of the article and discusses what the article contributes to existing knowledge on the topic. 

What does the author plan to do in the paper?
Why should we care about this problem/study?  
What is the author trying to test or show? 
How does she intend to contribute to the field? 

Literature Review 

The purpose of a literature review is to discuss previous work on the topic, point out what questions remain, and relate the research presented in the rest of the article to the existing literature.  There should also be a clear discussion of the author's research hypotheses. 

What do we already know about this topic and what is left to discover?  
What are some of the most important past findings on this topic?  
How have these past studies led the author to do this?  
What are the research hypotheses? 

Methods & Data 

The methods section provides information about the individuals the author studied and how she conducted her analysis.  It includes information about the participants, the procedures, the instruments and the variables measured. 

What data did the author use and how did she analyze them? 
Who were the participants in this sample? What makes them unique? 
Is the sample a good representation of the entire population? If not, how are they different?  
Is the study qualitative (based on interviews, ethnography, participant observation, or content analysis), quantitative (based on statistical analysis), or multi-­ method (includes both qualitative and quantitative analysis)? 

Results 

The results section explains what the author found when she analyzed her data.  It can be quite technical, reporting the results in detailed statistical language.  Tables and figures are frequently included. 

What did the author find? 

Discussion & Conclusion 

Articles typically end by discussing in "Plain English" what the results mean and how the study contributes to existing knowledge. Here the research questions are answered, and it should be clear at this point whether the hypotheses were supported. The conclusion is the final section.  It relates the research back to the larger context and suggests avenues for future research. 

What does it all mean and why is it important?
What were the authors' overall findings?
Why are these findings important?  
What limitations of the study do the authors identify (if any)?  
What suggestions for future research do the authors make (if any)? 

References 

This section lists all articles and other sources cited in the article.