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Reading & Analyzing Scholarly Sources

Reading Tips

Here are a few tips for reading scholarly articles that are original research studies or experiments.

  • Consider printing the article so you can highlight, circle, and mark up while you read. Or save a tree & use Adobe Reader to mark up the pdf.
  • Label the article parts.
  • Start with the abstract—it should summarize the article. Think of it like the movie/TV series spoiler--but in this case you want that!
  • Don't be afraid to read out of order. This isn't a mystery novel or Netflix series--again, you want the spoiler right away!
  • First determine what the researchers found out (results), then figure out how they did it (methodology).
  • If the graphs & stats don’t make sense, skip them and read explanations around them instead.
  • Look up words you don't know.
  • Take notes. Margins are good for that.

Videos

How To Read a Scholarly Journal Article (5:10):

How to Read Academic Research, even if you're not an expert (11:43):

Self-paced Tutorial

Used with author permission.

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