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Advice On Creating Effective Searches How To Read An Academic Article

Leo Migdal
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advice on creating effective searches how to read an academic article

A first step to searching for materials on your topic is to talk to experts who can suggest beginning sources to you: your professors and anyone else that they recommend. There are three useful principles to remember and apply when searching any kind of electronic search tool (a library catalog, a digital library, a database, the internet, etc.) 1. A keyword search in any resource will point you to great initial resources, but you will not find all of the resources you need this way. 2. It is really important that you follow up on your initial searching by:

a) looking at the complete records to identify subject headings or descriptors that you can use to search further Skipping around is encouraged when reading a scholarly article: Skimming these sections first will allow you to quickly determine if the article is relevant to your research and if you should do an in-depth reading. The abstract previews the entire article, makes it easier to judge whether it is relevant. Learn more about the topic of study and what the authors learned through their research. Applies to both sciences and humanities:

This page will focus on reading scholarly articles — published reports on original research in the social sciences, humanities, and STEM fields. Reading and understanding this type of article can be challenging. This guide will help you develop these skills, which can be learned and improved upon with practice. There are many different types of articles that may be found in scholarly journals and other academic publications. For more, see: Describes who is responsible for this work.

May be one person, a group, or an institution. Make note of authors and institutions you see repeatedly during your search process. Describe the content in quick words or phrases. Help you place the work in context with other literature. Good for quick reference! P laces the research in context with prior work.

Analyzes important contributions that the author(s) believe are relevant and that the article builds upon to create new knowledge. Sometimes includes a theoretical framework. A good place to look to find additional sources for your research! This page will focus on reading scholarly articles — published reports on original research in the social sciences, humanities, and STEM fields. Reading and understanding this type of article can be challenging. This guide will help you develop these skills, which can be learned and improved upon with practice.

Describes who is responsible for this work. May be one person, a group, or an institution. Make note of authors and institutions you see repeatedly during your search process. Describe the content in quick words or phrases. Help you place the work in context with other literature. Good for quick reference!

P laces the research in context with prior work. Analyzes important contributions that the author(s) believe are relevant and that the article builds upon to create new knowledge. Sometimes includes a theoretical framework. A good place to look to find additional sources for your research! An explanation of how and why the authors approached the examination of their question and the collection of data. May include information about the limitations of their chosen methodology.

Critical reading is an essential skill for academic success, enabling you to engage deeply with course materials and scholarly articles. This resource page offers different strategies for critical academic reading depending on your reading purposes — whether for class discussions, selecting literature for an assignment, or delving into selected readings for your paper writing—... You are required to engage in academic reading for various purposes: Purpose: get the gist (i.e., main points) of assigned readings to prepare yourself for class (e.g., class discussions) or homework (e.g., online posts and discussions). Purpose: decide if a source is a match for your assignment topic and goal by quickly reading it. Reading scholarly sources can be difficult.

This handout provides strategies to help you read dense, lengthy academic articles efficiently and effectively. Examine the article and its publisher for clues. Peer-reviewed academic journals are intended for scholars in that field, whereas popular titles (like Time or Newsweek) are intended for a more general audience. You may not be the primary audience for the text, and that’s OK. If this is the case, the author may reference other scholarly works assuming that you’ve read them, or they may cite facts or events that you haven’t learned about. If you encounter these elements, notice them, but try to keep moving through the article – sometimes you can keep moving without looking everything up.

Also remember that if you are not the primary audience, you may not enjoy the writing style – so a little perseverance may be necessary! 2: Think about why your professor assigned this reading You may not be the author’s intended audience, but understanding the reason you’ve been asked to read the article can help you stay engaged and read with purpose. What subject will this article prepare you discuss? How does this article fit into the main questions or topics of the course? What will the instructor ask you to do with the knowledge you gain from the article?

3: Skim strategically to identify the main argument or idea in the text The following tips can help you make sense of articles and retain what you've read in them. Crumb Library: 315-267-2485 Crane Library: 315-267-2451 library@potsdam.edu Text Us!: 315-277-3730 SUNY Potsdam College Libraries 44 Pierrepont Ave Potsdam, NY 13676 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. Read the Abstract first. The Abstract will preview the entire article, makes it easier to judge whether it is relevant. 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...

Cunningham, A., & Hannon, R. (2013). Reinforcing College Reading Strategies in the Library Classroom. LOEX Quarterly, 40(1). https://commons.emich.edu/loexquarterly/ vol40/iss1/4 Middlesex Community College Jean Burr Smith Library.

(2017). How to Read a Scholarly Journal Article. https://mxcc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/How-to-read-a-scholarly-article_rev7_2016.pdf Reading Techniques. (2017, April 18). Dartmouth Academic Skills Center.

https://students.dartmouth.edu/academic-skills/learning-resources/learning-strategies/reading-techniques Scanning and skimming are essential when reading scholarly articles, especially at the beginning stages of your research or when you have a lot of material in front of you. Many scholarly articles are organized to help you scan and skim efficiently. The next time you need to read a scholarly article, use the following chart as a guide: Effectively searching the scholarly literature is a fundamental academic skill. However, the process can be overwhelming due to the vast amount of available research and the complexity of academic databases.

This overview article provides a practical guide to navigating the literature with confidence, outlining key strategies for identifying relevant sources, refining search queries, and troubleshooting common challenges. © 2025 The Author(s). Current Protocols published by Wiley Periodicals LLC. Keywords: database searching; information sources; research methodology; scholarly literature; search strategies. © 2025 The Author(s). Current Protocols published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.

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