Week 6 - Assignment: Analyze Differences between Theory and Concept Research and Week 7 - Assignment: Choose a Research Topic

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NCU Library / LibGuides / Library How-To Guides / Research Process / Reading a Scientific Article

Research Process These pages offer an introduction to the research process

at a very general level.

Home

Finding a Research Topic

Determining Information Needs

Scholarly Research

Preparing to Search

Reading a Scientific Article

Evaluating Information

Finding Similar Resources

Resources for a Literature Review

Reading a Scientific Article

Attempting to read a scientific or scholarly research article for the first

time may seem overwhelming and confusing. This guide details how to

read a scientific article step-by-step. First, you should not approach a

scientific article like a textbook— reading from beginning to end of the

chapter or book without pause for reflection or criticism. Additionally, it

is highly recommended that you highlight and take notes as you move

through the article. Taking notes will keep you focused on the task at

hand and help you work towards comprehension of the entire article.

1. Skim the article. This should only take you a few minutes. You are not trying to comprehend the entire article at this point, but

just get a basic overview. You don’t have to read in order; the

discussion/conclusions will help you to determine if the article is

relevant to your research. You might then continue on to the

Introduction. Pay attention to the structure of the article,

headings, and figures.

2. Grasp the vocabulary. Begin to go through the article and highlight words and phrases you do not understand. Some words

or phrases you may be able to get an understanding from the

context in which it is used, but for others you may need the

assistance of a medical or scientific dictionary. Subject-specific

dictionaries available through our Library databases and online

are listed below.

Search this Guide Search

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Resources for Dissertation Research

Organizing Research & Citations 

Scholarly Publication

Learn the Library 

Ask Us!

Library Tutorial

Reading a Scholarly Article Tutorial This interactive

tutorial

provides

practice

reading a

scholarly or

scientific

article.

3. Identify the structure of the article and work on your comprehension. Most journals use an IMRD structure: An abstract followed by Introduction, Methods, Results, and

Discussion. These sections typically contain conventional

features, which you will start to recognize. If you learn to look for

these features you will begin to read and comprehend the article

more quickly.

The abstract gives a quick overview of the article. It will usually contain four pieces of information: purpose or

rationale of study (why they did it); methodology (how they

did it); results (what they found); conclusion (what it

means). Begin by reading the abstract to make sure this is

what you are looking for and that it will be worth your time

and effort.

The introduction gives background information about the topic and sets out specific questions to be addressed by

the authors. You can skim through the introduction if you

are already familiar with the paper’s topic.

The methods section gives technical details of how the experiments were carried out and serves as a “how-to”

manual if you wanted to replicate the same experiments as

the authors. This is another section you may want to only

skim unless you wish to identify the methods used by the

researchers or if you intend to replicate the research

yourself.

The results are the meat of the scientific article and contain all of the data from the experiments. You should

spend time looking at all the graphs, pictures, and tables as

these figures will contain most of the data.

Lastly the discussion is the authors’ opportunity to give

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Additional Resources

Anatomy of a Scholarly Article

How to Read (and Understand) a Social Science Journal Article

How to Read a Scientific Paper

How to Read a Scientific Paper Interactive Tutorial

How to Read Scientific Literature (YouTube Video)

General Dictionaries

The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language

Lastly, the discussion is the authors opportunity to give their opinions. Keep in mind that the discussions are the

authors’ interpretations and not necessarily facts. It is still a

good place for you to get ideas about what kind of research

questions are still unanswered in the field and what types of

questions you might want your own research project to

tackle. (See the Future Research Section of the Research

Process for more information).

4. Read the bibliography/references section. Reading the references or works cited may lead you to other useful

resources. You might also get a better understanding of the basic

terminology, main concepts, major researchers, and basic

terminology in the area you are researching.

5. Reflect on what you have read and draw your own conclusions. As you are reading jot down any questions that come to mind. They may be answered later on in the article or

you may have stumbled upon something that the authors did not

consider. Here are some examples of questions you may ask

yourself as you read:

Have I taken time to understand all the terminology?

Am I spending too much time on the less important parts of

this article?

Do I have any reason to question the credibility of this

research?

What specific problem does the research address and why

is it important?

How do these results relate to my research interests or to

other works which I have read?

6. Read the article a second time in chronological order. Reading the article a second time will reinforce your overall

understanding. You may even start to make connections to other

articles that you have read on this topic

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Language

The American Heritage Student Science Dictionary

The Chambers Dictionary

Dictionary.com

The Free Dictionary

Macmillan Dictionary

Merriam- Webster's Collegiate Dictionary

Merriam- Webster Online

The Penguin English Dictionary

The Science Dictionary

articles that you have read on this topic.

Reading a Scholarly Article Workshop

This workshop presents effective techniques for reading and

understanding a scholarly article, as well as locating definitions related

to your research topic.

Reading a Scholarly Article & Finding De�nitioReading a Scholarly Article & Finding De�nitio……

Subject-Specific Dictionaries

The AMA Dictionary of Business and Management by George Thomas Kurin ISBN: 9780814420287

Publication Date: 2013

Covers a vast range of terminology from all areas

of business including management, strategy, finance, human

resources, economics, marketing, sales, insurance, and

international business.

Business Education Health Sciences

Marriage & Family Science Psychology

Research Methods Social Work Technology

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Collins Dictionary of Business by Christopher Pass (Editor) ISBN: 9781849721691

Publication Date: 2006

Covers all the main areas of business theory and

practice: marketing, production, finance, personnel, business

policy and international business.

Collins Dictionary of Economics by C. L. Pass (Editor); Leslie Davies (Editor); Bryan Lowes (Editor) ISBN: 9781849721769

Publication Date: 2007

Summarizes the theoretical principles behind the science of

economics and their application in such areas as competition

policy, agricultural policy, fiscal policy and monetary policy.

Dictionary of Accounting by S. M.H. Collin ISBN: 9781849722469

Publication Date: 2008

Provides a basic vocabulary of terms used in

accounting, from personal finance and

investments to company accounts, balance sheets and stock

valuations.

Dictionary of Business by A&C Black ISBN: 9781408198476

Publication Date: 2006

Contains basic business terms that cover all

aspects of business life from the office to the stock

exchange and international trade fairs.

Dictionary of E-Business by Francis Botto ISBN: 9780470844700

Publication Date: 2003

Includes extended coverage of wireless and

mobile terms, demonstrates clear applications to

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, pp

both technical and business markets, and covers all the latest

developments in this fast moving field.

Dictionary of Financial Engineering by John F. Marshall ISBN: 9781849721424

Publication Date: 2006

A practical guide to the inside language of the

world of derivative instruments and risk management.

Dictionary of Human Resources and Personnel Management by A. Ivanovic (Editor); P.H. Collin (Editor) ISBN: 9781849721967

Publication Date: 2007

Key terms, covering all aspects of human resources, including

recruitment and selection, appraisals, payment systems,

dismissals and industrial relations

Dictionary of Marketing Communications by Norman A. Govoni ISBN: 9780761927716

Publication Date: 2003

Contains more than 4,000 entries, including key

terms and concepts in the promotion aspect of marketing with

coverage of advertising, sales promotion, public relations, direct

marketing, personal selling and e-marketing.

Dictionary of Strategy: Strategic Management A-Z by Louise Kelly; Chris Booth ISBN: 9780761930730

Publication Date: 2004

Presents over 550 important strategic

management terms and concepts.

New Penguin Business Dictionary by Graham Bannock (Editor)

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Last Updated: Jun 15, 2022 9:34 AM URL: https://library.ncu.edu/researchprocess  Print Page

ISBN: 9781849722353

Publication Date: 2007

Covers all aspects of business from accounting

through marketing and organizational behavior to human

resource management.

Penguin Dictionary of Economics by Graham Bannock; R. E. Baxter; Evan Davis ISBN: 9781849722377

Publication Date: 2007

Explains a host of economic terms, from

acceleration principle to venture capital, Euro to X-efficiency,

globalization to zero-sum game.

Routledge Dictionary of Economics by Donald Rutherford ISBN: 9780415122917

Publication Date: 2013

Provides clear, definitive explanations of the key

terms, issues, theories and concepts in economics today.

Webster's New World Finance and Investment Dictionary by Barbara Etzel ISBN: 9781849721486

Publication Date: 2006

Clear, accessible, and cross-referenced

explanations of today's most essential financial terms, including

vocabulary related to accounting, finance, banks and banking,

economics, investing, markets, real estate, and securities.

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