Research Tips: How to Read Scholarly Materials

Understanding the different sections of a research article is also helpful. 

• Abstract: General overview of the purpose and findings.
• Introduction: Rationale and introduction to the study's hypothesis.
• Methods: How data was gathered and tested.
• Results: What was found from the testing. 
• Discussion: Implications from the results and areas for further research.
• Conclusion: Summary of the article and discussion of limitations. 
• References: A list of all the other research cited throughout the work.

• Read the abstract: This will allow you to get a framework of the article before you dive into it. Understanding the purpose of the article will help guide you as you read it. 
• Skim the entire article: Read the article all the way through without taking notes and get the gist of the article. Get familiar with the topic. 
• Take notes: Read the article again - this time more focused and take notes. Highlight key points, jot down any questions.
• Relevancy? Jot down anything that stands out as relevant to you and why. This will help you later if you need to utilize this information in a report, etc.
• Identify & summarize key info: What are the key findings? How did they prove this? Did they prove this? Were there limitations? Are there lingering questions? Implications for further research?
• Check the sources: Who does the author cite? Are they relevant to your topic? You can look up the articles' citations and utilize the research as well.