ENGL 1010: English Composition: 4. How to Read a Scholarly Article & an eBook

How to Read a Scholarly Article

Scholarly or peer-reviewed articles are written by experts for other experts. They can be about current research projects or reviews of multiple research papers on a certain topic. Read scholarly articles in this order:

1. Abstract

Gives you a very brief overview of the whole paper. It's at the beginning of the paper, usually just below the authors' names. It may be labeled "abstract."

2. Conclusion/Discussion

Gives you the new information the authors learned. It's the section at the end of the paper, just before the references.

3. The Rest of the Article

If after reading the above parts, you feel that the article is not useful for you, stop and look for other papers. If you do feel that the paper has information you can use, read the entire article.

Reading Tips

  • Look up terms/vocabulary you don't know
  • Take notes as you read
  • Keep track of citations as you go

Other help

How to Read an eBook

eBooks are an excellent way to find background and overview information for research. Use the following tutorial to learn how to divide and conquer eBook sections and how to search within an eBook for keywords.