You might be wondering if you even know what a scholarly article looks like. How are you supposed to know if you've never seen one? To figure out what a scholarly article is, it is good to start by comparing it to something with which you are already familiar: popular articles. You might not read actual glossy magazines, but think of Teen VOGUE, Men's Health, Time or the Economist, any of the titles pictured above. Popular and scholarly resources have certain characteristics that help you tell the difference between them. See the table below.
| Popular | Scholarly |
| shorter | longer, at least 7 pages, multiple columns on each page |
| written for a general audience, even when included in discipline specific magazine (ex. Psychology Today) | are written by experts in their field, for other experts; Peer-reviewed |
| written by the employees of the periodical who may or may not have experience or credentials on the topic | authors have credentials to be considered experts: PhD, MD, MA/MS |
| language is not technical and does not have a lot of jargon; easier to read and understand | language can be very technical and varies by subject. This can make these articles difficult to understand for people new to the field (students) |
| little to no actual citations and no bibliography/works cited list | full of citations and include a long list of references |
| contain advertisements and/or pictures | visual representation of data (charts, graphs, tables); no advertisements |
| come out more frequently: daily, weekly or monthly | come out less frequently: quarterly (4xs/year), twice, or once a year |
Published, scholarly information comes in a variety of packages, but the most dominant form overall is the research article, which is published in an academic journal.
An academic journal is a serialized publication, like a magazine or newspaper, though they are often published with less frequency like only once a year! Typically academic journals are published annually, quarterly, bimonthly, or monthly. They are published by places like university presses, academic societies, or commercial publishers. Most have a specific disciplinary focus, such as modern history, astrophysics, or French literature, and the primary audience for these publications will be students and researchers in those disciplinary areas.
Let's look at an example of a scholarly journal!
*Image from: http://www.press.uillinois.edu/journals/apq.html
This is the journal American Philosophical Quarterly (APQ). It's an academic journal published four times per year.
From the website:
\*Image from: http://www.press.uillinois.edu/journals/apq.html
As you can see from the text above, it's published by a university press (University of Illinois) and it's published on behalf of another group, North American Philosophical Publications. Having publishers publishing materials on behalf of another group, such as a learned society, is a common in academic journal publishing.
Scholarly articles do not all look exactly the same but they have similar characteristics. By learning about these characteristics, you will know how to identify something scholarly.
Scholarly articles that present new research, like in the social sciences and sciences, will have very similar structures. There is a different structure for scholarly articles in the arts and humanities.
Research articles include original studies that add to the current scholarship on a given topic. Disciplines within the Social Sciences (ex. sociology, psychology) and Physical Sciences (ex. biology, chemistry) present their findings in research articles.
The table below describes the components of Scholarly articles in the Social Sciences and Physical Sciences. The majority of research articles in these disciplines will have the sections listed below, but there will be some that do not have all of them.
|
Abstract |
Brief summary of the article, including methodology and results. |
| Introduction | Background information about the topic of research, with reasoning for why the study is being done. |
|
Methods |
How the study was done. The details of the research, including set-up and how data was collected. |
| Results/Findings | Presentation of the data from the study. This section often includes charts, tables and graphs as visual representations of the data. |
| Discussion | Analysis of the data, and how the study relates to existing knowledge of the topic. The authors evaluate whether the results of their study actually answered their research question. |
| Conclusion | The authors wrap up the article by discussing how their study adds to the existing knowledge on the topic and outline potential research for further studies. |
| References | List of resources (articles, books, journals, etc) that authors consulted when developing their research. |
Within the Arts and Humanities, scholarly articles are set up differently than in the Sciences. Articles will read more like essays, rather than scientific experiments. As a result, there is no standard format or sections to look for as in the table above. Although an article written in an essay style may seem more approachable to read, the rule still applies that the authors are writing for other experts in their fields, so they might still be very difficult to read because of terminology and jargon from the discipline.
In the Humanities, scholars are not conducting research experiments on participants but rather are making logical arguments based on the evidence they have, which often comes from texts. In literature, for example, a scholar will be studying a particular novel of an author. In history, a scholar will look at the primary source documents from the time period she is studying.
The following sections are generally included in humanities scholarly articles, although not always and might not be clearly marked. In fact, each article you read on a topic will have different section headings, if any, decided upon by the authors and editors.
| Abstract | This brief summary is sometimes included, sometimes not. |
| Introduction | Usually pretty long and gives a lot of background information for topic being studied. Thesis "statement" will be found within introduction, although it is not limited to one sentence. Literature Review might also be included here. |
| Discussion/Conclusion | The discussion likely runs through the entire article and does not have a separate section. The conclusion might not be as neatly wrapped up in a humanities articles as in the sciences. Things might be a little unresolved. |
| Works Cited | List of resources used by the author(s). |
Let's talk about how to read.
We're not trying to insult your intelligence here. We know you know how to read.
But did you know that there are different ways of reading depending on what you are trying to get out of the text? And that these different ways come in handy depending on how much time you have/are willing to spend on something?
We won't make any assumptions that everyone loves to read. But think about your favorite book or comic book. You probably get lost in your favorite story, reading every word to stay in that world as long as possible, losing track of time as you sit comfortably in your favorite chair.
Unfortunately, academic or scholarly reading might not give you the same experience. Rarely do you get the warm and fuzzy feeling when curling up with a scholarly article (but you never know, maybe).
Here are some things to think about when reading for class or research:
Reading scholarly articles can be a difficult task. Scholars have done their research and written up their results for many reasons, but not for many audiences. Although you as a student need to use the articles in your assignment, they were not written specifically for you. (No offense).
The fact is, these scholars are experts in their field writing for other experts. They are using specialized language that can be difficult for someone new to understand. So, you can sit down with an article and start reading, but you may become discouraged pretty quickly.
The tips below are to help you read scholarly articles STRATEGICALLY. These tips can help you approach a scholarly text for easier reading and better understanding.
For the Sciences:
Titles can only tell you so much about the content of the article. The Abstract acts as a preview for the entire article, including the methods and results. By reading the Abstract first, you can get a better idea of what the article is actually about, if it relates to what you are researching, and whether it is worth your time to read the rest of it.
For the Humanities:
Applies for both sciences and humanities:
Literature review: An overview of previous scholarship on the present topic. Gives both author and reader a context for where the article falls in the literature. Likely to be a separate section within the introduction or right after it.
For the sciences:
For the humanities:
Okay, now that you have pre-read some of the article and are sure it relates to your research topic, read the whole thing. It still might not be easy, but it will not be as hard as if you were reading it with no context.
Some more tips about reading:
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