Anatomy of a Scholarly Article

Scholarly articles are the formal documentation of a research study and they often follow a very specific format to share information about how the research was done and the results of the study.

Use the guide below to learn more about the parts of a typical research article and how you might use the information from each section in your own writing.

• See this information in a table

  	What is in this section?	How can I use this information?
  Journal title	Research articles are published in scholarly journals that come out periodically: some monthly, some quarterly, some only annually. The journal title is usually at the top of the page.	You may want to browse the full journal to see what other articles were recently published or get a better sense of the journal as a whole. You’ll also need the journal title to cite the article.
  Article title	The title attempts to summarize what the researchers investigated or what a reader can expect to learn from the article.	The title can be a clue to the type of article it is, whether it’s original research, a review, or something else.
  Keywords	Scholarly articles are tagged with key words that are relevant to topics in the paper. Similar to hashtags, the article should appear when the keywords are used in a search. Many articles have a keywords or subjects section like this.	Researchers use very specific, disciplinary, or technical terms. If you have one relevant article, you can use the keywords sections to learn more terms used by researchers.
  Abstract	Abstracts tell the reader the main takeaways from the study or what to expect in the article.	The abstract can help you decide whether the article is relevant enough to keep for your research.  Bonus tip! You cannot cite the abstract in your paper since it's just a summary of the article.
  Introduction	If you need background information or if you want to know about previous research on the topic, use the introduction section. You'll also find out what motivated the research.	Researchers have to explain why their research is needed, why it's relevant, or why it is an improvement upon an older understanding. This happens in the Introduction, sometimes called Background or Literature Review section.  Bonus tip! If you find useful information cited in the introduction section, consider going to the original article to read about it more fully. Avoid citing a source within a source.
  Methods	Scientific studies usually involve an experiment of some sort. In order to pass peer review and be published, researchers have to share their exact process so that it can be replicated or verified.	Methods and materials are most useful when you want to critically analyze the results of the study.
  Results and discussion	Scientific articles are reporting back on a study or experiment. The results section shares the raw data, charts, or outcomes from the study, while the discussion is the authors' analysis or interpretation of the results.	For many readers, the discussion is likely to be the most useful section of the article. The authors are explaining what they learned and why it is important. If you understand the methods and the results, you may compare your own analysis with the authors’.
  Figures and tables	Figures and tables are usually graphs, charts, or other visualizations of the data gathered in a study.	In most cases, you probably won’t use these, but it’s a helpful way for readers of the study to view large amounts of data gathered in the study.
  Conclusion	The conclusion is usually a short section that shares a brief summary of the study and the results. Conclusions often discuss what researchers weren't able to learn or limitations or flaws in their study. They often recommend further research or study in the conclusion section.	This section gives helpful context for understanding the implications of the study. You should take the limitations of the study into consideration when discussing it in your own writing.  You might consider reading this section first!
  References	Every source cited in the paper will be in the References section. Most scholarly articles cite 20-50 sources, or more!	If you found interesting or relevant quotes in the paper, you can use the references section to find the full article. You can also just browse the references section to find related sources.
  Other sections / supplemental info	There may be several other headings or sections at the end to declare no conflict of interest, provide acknowledgements, link to supplemental materials, or provide other information. These may be different for every article	For your assignments, you most likely won't. If you were a researcher, you may want to access these other resources.
  Review
  	Learning to read a research article is a skill that takes time to develop. Using the section headers can help you: Adjust your reading strategy for each section Focus on the sections most relevant to you To learn more about scholarly sources you can: Check out our other tutorials and videos Ask a librarian for help!

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