Title: The main idea of the article, at the most basic level.
Authors: The scholars who conducted the research and wrote the article. It will also often list insitututional affiliations.
Adapted from Marymount University Library and Learning Services at https://www.marymount.edu/marymount.edu/media/Academic_media/Services_and_Resources/partsofaresearcharticle.pdf
Abstract: A short paragraph which summarizes the article. It will touch on all major section of the article, highlighting the main ideas.
Introduction: This section introduces the research question or questions being addressed in the article, and gives a roadmap for the rest of the article.
Both of these sections address the question, "What is this article about?"
Adapted from Wichita State Univeristy LIbraries at https://libraries.wichita.edu/comm-research-strategies/components
Literature Review: This section will either be under its own heading, or will be combined with the introduction. In it, the authors will review the existing research and theories relevant to their topic. The goal of this section is to show where the current work fits into the existing scholarly work, and draw out remaining questions from the larger body of work, in particular ones that the authors' work is aiming to address.
This section answers the questions, "What do we already know on the topic and what is left to discover?"
Adapted from Wichita State Univeristy LIbraries at https://libraries.wichita.edu/comm-research-strategies/components
Methods or Methodology: Describes how the research was conducted, including descriptions of the sample population, assessment measures, and procedure.
This section answers the questions, "How did the author do the research? Why this way and not another way?"
Adapted from Wichita State Univeristy LIbraries at https://libraries.wichita.edu/comm-research-strategies/components and from Marymount University Library and Learning Services at https://www.marymount.edu/marymount.edu/media/Academic_media/Services_and_Resources/partsofaresearcharticle.pdf
Results: A summary of the findings of the empirical research. This is usually presented in text format, accompanied by tables and graphs.
Discussion: A section explaining how the results answer the study's research questions.
Answers the questions, “What did the authors find? What did their findings reveal or say in response to their research question?”
Adapted from Wichita State Univeristy LIbraries at https://libraries.wichita.edu/comm-research-strategies/components and Marymount University Library and Learning Services at https://www.marymount.edu/marymount.edu/media/Academic_media/Services_and_Resources/partsofaresearcharticle.pdf
Conclusion: The conclusion addresses how the study contributes to existing knowledge. It places the research in larger context, and points towards areas for future research.
Adapted from Wichita State Univeristy LIbraries at https://libraries.wichita.edu/comm-research-strategies/components
By following these tips and tricks, you can save yourself time reading, while still picking out the main ideas of an article. As a plus, when doing research, this process is set up to assist you in narrowing down your sources to those most relevant to your research question.
This process is called the source funnel:
Title and Author Statement: Reading this first will give you a high-level understanding of what the article is about/whether the article might be related to your research topic. It will also give you an idea of the authors' backgrounds and credibility.
Abstract: The abstract will give you a quick summary of the big ideas of the article--what the research is about, what the authors want to find out, how they went about it, and what they ultimately found out. Plus they're usually only 250 words! When doing research, if an abtract clearly shows that an article doesn't match your topic, move on from it.
Intro, Discussion, Conclusion: Reading these three sections will give you a thorough understanding of the research questions, findings, and future directions, without having to read the ENTIRE article.
Methods and Results: Unless you are in a research methods class, you can give the methods section a bit less emphasis. Some things to skim for: what's the sample population of the research? Do their research methods seem to match up with their research questions? Is it quantitative or qualitative research? How do you know? In the results section, try your best to understand any graphs or tables that are included, and then move on. Don't get too bogged down.
Full Article: If you've made it through these sections and gained a rough understanding of the main ideas, it doesn't hurt to try to put it together beginning to end. This is particularly the case if you are planning to incorporate the article into a research paper.