What's the Deal with Scholarly Articles?
What's in them?
The results of a study, experiment, or any other kind of disciplined scholarly research.
Who writes them?
Scholars: faculty, researchers, laboratory staff, and graduate students.
Helpful hint! Look for a University Affiliation in the author's bio in an article. If they work at a university or college, they're probably a scholarly author!
Who reads them?
Other researchers in the field, including students just learning about research and professors working on their own areas of study within the field.
When should you use them?
What do they look like?
Some of the best journals in Psychology available through the Library...
If it's not Scholarly, it might be Popular!
What's in them?
Entertaining or generally informative articles about a variety of subjects.
Who writes them?
Journalists who have conducted interviews or research to learn about the topic, but who are not scholarly experts in the field.
Who reads them?
A general audience. The writing should not require specialized expertise to read.
When should you use them?
What do they look like?
Watch out: Popular magazines cover a lot of subjects, and can be formatted in a variety of ways. The tips listed above will not be true 100% of the time. Critical thinking about audience and authorship are important when trying to identify popular articles!
Peer Review: The process used to make sure the research in a scholarly article is accurate before it is published. After an author submits their article to an academic journal, it is sent to other experts in their field (their peers) to be reviewed. Those experts check to make sure the experiment is sound and the results make sense. If they agree that the article contains good information, then it can be published.
Abstract
A brief summary of the article, less than 300 words.
It contains...
The research question, argument, or thesis; the methodology of the study or experiment; and a summary of the conclusions or findings.
Read it to find...
Whether or not the article meets your needs.
Introduction
A description of the problem and the authors' goals in conducting their research.
It contains...
An explanation of how the research fits into the scholarly conversation and an overview of why it is important.
This section may also include a literature review, which covers the other research out there on related topics.
Read it to find...
How the article will fit into your research needs.
Methods
The way the researchers set up their study or experiment. The type of data they collected and how they gathered it.
It contains...
Information about participants, materials, and procedures. Explains how the researchers analyzed the data they collected.
Read it to find...
How reliable the information contained in the article will be. Are there problems with the method, such as small sample sizes or a failure to control variables?
Results
What the researchers found through their study or experiment.
It contains...
The findings of the study, often presented with tables, charts, or graphs.
Read it to find...
The raw data.
Discussion
The analysis of the results. What do the researchers think their findings mean?
It contains...
Evaluation and interpretation of data. Directions for further study.
Read it to find...
The answer to the researcher's original question.
Helpful hint: Read the discussion section after reading the abstract to determine if the final conclusion speaks to your research question. This can help you find the most relevant articles without spending too much time reading!
Currency
Scholarly information should be current.
When reading an article, find the date it was published. In many subjects, anything more than five years old is not considered current.
Relevance
Information you find should be related to your topic.
Does it...
Helpful hint: read the Discussion section first! This will tell you what the writers concluded based on their study and analysis. How is it related to the argument you're making?
Reliability
Is the information reliable? Can you count on it being true?
Check for...
Authority
Anyone can share their opinion online--but you're looking for experts!
Purpose
Why was the article written?
Knowing what an author hoped to do or gain by writing and publishing an article tells you a lot about how useful it is in an academic setting.
Need a little extra help?
Or use the links below to find more in-depth information and help on Methods for Psychological Research.