FYS: Making a Difference: Identity, Community, and Vocation (Young)

Important information about scholarly journals

The parts of the articles, as well as images showing what these parts may look like, are outlined below.

1. Scholarly journals are often referred to as Academic Journals, Peer-Reviewed Journals, and Research Journals
2. Purpose: Scholarly journals are educational and serve to share information and original research between scholars in particular academic disciplines

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3. Subject Matter: Articles contain very specific and specialized information. Usually articles are reports of research on narrow and subtle aspects of a particular field of study
4. Language: Language is appropriate for scholarly dialog; articles often contain context terminology, jargon, or mathematical formulas used in a particular field of study

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5. Format: Articles have abstracts that summarize the content of the article. Articles are often long and complex, typically with standardized sections such as Introduction, Literature Review,  Methods, Results, Conclusion, and Discussion 
6. Graphics: Journals are mostly text-based and often look "plain" with few photos or graphics. Graphics and charts often illustrate research results or statistics

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7. Bibliography: All sources are cited in a bibliography
8. Authors: Authors are academic researchers or specialists in their field whose articles have passed scrutiny and review by peers/fellow specialists in their field; author affiliations (title, degree, academic position held) are usually mentioned in the article

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9. Publishers: Journals are usually published by educational institutions, professional organizations, or non-profits

Reading scholarly journal articles is not like reading your favorite novel.  Scholars are writing for other scholars about their research. Their purpose is to present new findings or ideas to others who already know something about what they are writing about. It is okay to struggle with reading scholarly journal articles and to even not fully understand every point the article makes. Below is some advice on how to get the most out of a scholarly journal article. 

Unlike a novel, the best strategy for reading a scholarly article is not to start at the beginning and read to the end. Instead, it is better to jump around to build an understanding of the main arguments and then go back to fill in the details. 

Step 1: Read the abstract, conclusion, and introduction

• Start with the abstract 
  • Summarizes the main points of the article
  • Introduces to the vocabulary used in the article. 
• Jump to the conclusion
  • Most articles will have a separate heading marking the conclusions
  • Clearest summarization of the author's argument. 
• Read the Introduction
  • The introduction provides details of why the author is writing this article and where they begin to make the arguments

Step 2: Skim for the overall structure

• Next, you want to skim through the article to see how the author structures their content.
  • Does the writer preface each section with an overview?
  • Does the article move from example to analysis?
  • Where does the author discuss other people's findings? 
• Once you know how the author structures their article, you will know what to focus in on when you read through the article in its entirety. 

Step 3: Read for Content

•  Know your purpose. 
  • If you professor assigns the paper
    • Are you going to be quizzed on the article? - read for details. 
    • Will there be a class discussion? Read for the main argument
  • If you are reading an article for research:
    • What argument does this article support?
    • Do you need to quote particular arguments or facts in your paper? 

• Take notes
  • Annotate with a specific key 
    • key ideas/major points
    • unfamiliar words
    • keywords and phrases
    • important information
    • connections to class materials or other articles. 
  • Break the text into sections and summarize the main points in your own words. 
• Take breaks
  • These articles are HARD. If you can't stay focused, walk away for a few minutes. Or even better, plan ahead and only read part of the article a night.  Remember these are not stories, you won't lose anything if you stop and come back to the article later.