LibGuides: Info Lit Building Blocks: How to Read Sources

Reading Articles in the Humanities--image

How do you read a scholarly article? Prezi

How to read an article--text

Here are a few tips about reading those scholarly articles you found. Most important? Remember reading front to back is for novels and mysteries! Don't be afraid to read out of order.

Label the article parts
Start with the abstract—it should unlock the rest of the article
Read back to front.
Figure out what they found out first, then figure out how they got there
If the graphs don’t make sense, ignore them and read their explanation of the graphs instead.
Look up words you don't know
Summarize as you read--it saves time.

Parts of a scholarly article - color coded

Parts of an article-image

Parts of article-text

Abstract
Summary/Overview of the article
Introduction
Summary/Overview of the article
Literature Review
Unique aspect of the study
Methods
Methods
Participants in the study
Results
Results
Discussion
Discussion
Conclusion
Future Implications
References