Reading Academic Articles

Now that you’ve thought about how you read in general, let’s consider reading a specific type of writing: academic articles*.

The main purpose of academic journal articles is to report on original research or experimentation and report results to other scholars in the field. It is one of the main forms of communication in academia and is distinguished by the peer-review process, which ensures that the article is rigorously reviewed by other scholars before being published in a scholarly journal. For more information about academic articles, check out the Evaluating Information module of this tutorial. 

It’s handy to know that academic articles often follow a structural pattern:

Anatomy of an Academic Article

Abstract

Tells you briefly what experiment was done and what was found.

Introduction

Explains motivation and importance of research, provides background information.

Review of Literature 

Reviews a variety of the most pertinent sources on the topic at hand, as determined by the author. Literature reviews can be a standalone academic article on its own, or a “mini literature review” can be part of a paper’s Introduction that helps establish context for the research presented in the paper.

Methodology

Ideally describes the experimental design, techniques, materials/participants, and steps needed to replicate the data-gathering process.

Results

Provides the raw data you might need for your own research. Figures and tables provide the data in a compact format for easy viewing.

Argument, Critique, or Discussion

Highlights important findings/interpretations from the raw data, presents opposing views/limitations, and places the discussion within the field at large.

Conclusion

Gives reasons for conclusions based on results, reinforces major claims. May also suggest areas where further research is needed.

Works Cited or References

Different disciplines use different citation styles, but all of them point back to where the author found the information used in their research. Readers can use the References section as a quick way to find even more published research related to the topic.

Adapted from UNCW’s Learning Center Links to an external site.

Academic Articles in Sciences, Social Sciences & Humanities

To read articles more efficiently, it’s important to be able to quickly identify the components of academic articles in your discipline or major. These visual examples of academic articles, with components explained, will help you become familiar with how to read academic articles, fast!

*We use the terms peer-reviewed article, scholarly article, and academic article interchangeably throughout this tutorial.