How To Read A Scholarly Article Identifying Engaging With Sources

Leo Migdal

-Oct 29, 2025, 1:19 AM

how to read a scholarly article identifying engaging with sources

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. The resources below identify and define the parts of a scholarly article -- including: And suggest ways to navigate through and takes notes on these different sections in order to distill and process the key information to apply it to your own research analysis and writing. Please note that although some of the links below focus on "scientific" papers, the principals they build upon are relevant for reading any kind of scholarly article.

Reading scholarly articles is a skill that you develop. Unlike a book chapter or magazine article you might read from start to finish, research articles are organized in a way that facilitates a more selective reading process, i.e. skimming and/or reading sections in a different order. There is no single way to correctly read a scholarly article. Even the researchers you're working with (PI, postdocs, grad students) may their own way of breaking down and reading articles, both within and outside of their field. Along with asking about their practices, here are some other resources:

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! 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: 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 Research papers generally follow a specific format. Here are the different parts of the scholarly article.

The abstract, generally written by the author(s) of the article, provides a concise summary of the whole article. Usually it highlights the focus, study results and conclusion(s) of the article. In this section, the authors introduce their topic, explain the purpose of the study, and present why it is important, unique or how it adds to existing knowledge in their field. Look for the author's hypothesis or thesis here. Introduction - Literature Review (Who else) Many scholarly articles include a summary of previous research or discussions published on this topic, called a "Literature Review".

This section outlines what others have found and what questions still remain. Research articles in the sciences and social sciences tend to be concise reports of results from quantitative and/or qualitative analysis, and focus on the discussion of results, methods, and limitations. The infographic below describes the components of scholarly research articles in the Social and Physical Sciences. The majority of articles in these disciplines will have the sections listed below: Reading scholarly articles is a skill that you can improve to become a critical and efficient reader. The process can be different depending on the discipline the article was written for.

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 an article, practice scanning the following sections (where available) and skim their contents: An abstract is a summary of the article, and will give you an idea of what the article is about and how it will be written. If there are lots of complicated subject-specific words in the abstract, the article will be just as hard to read. An article that reports on original research such as an experiment, or analysis of data, a creative work, phenomena, or historical event.

An article summarizing the results of many original articles investigating similar topics. May use analytic techniques such as meta-analysis to statistically compare data from multiple studies. Tip #1 - Many scholarly journals, especially in the Humanities, also publish book reviews of scholarly books. These are not the same as review articles! An article intended to contribute to the theoretical foundations of a field, providing explanations for phenomena and frameworks that can be used to guide the analysis of evidence. Read The Abstract The abstract will give you a general understanding of the article.

Also, pay attention to the authors and their titles. Reading research can be a challenge. However, the tutorials and videos below can help. They explain what scholarly articles look like, how to read them, and how to evaluate them: In some classes, your professor will expect you to use "primary research" or "empirical" articles. For tips on finding them in Penn State databases, see our cheat sheet.

In the Social Sciences and Education, primary/empirical research is based on observed and measured phenomena and derives knowledge from actual experience rather than from theory or belief. How do you know if a study is empirical? Read the subheadings within the article, book, or report and look for a description of the research "methodology." Ask yourself: Could I recreate this study and test these results? Another hint: some scholarly journals use a specific layout, called the "IMRaD" format, to communicate empirical research findings. Such articles typically have 4 components: https://www.elsevier.com/connect/infographic-how-to-read-a-scientific-paper

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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 ...