Theory13

Your Name:

Your research question or working thesis:

Sections of a Published Research Study

Your Notes

Title

The title may include terms like “outcomes,” “effects,” “treatments,” and “reactions” that indicate the article deals with research.

1. Answer this question: What is your journal article’s title?

Citation

Provides the author(s) name(s) and publication information.

2. Write an APA-style citation for your journal article:

Abstract

Used by readers to quickly evaluate the overall article content. Introduces topic and specific research question, usually provides statement regarding methodology and a general statement about the results and findings.

3. Answer this question: What does your journal article’s abstract say is the topic and specific research question investigated in this study?

4. Answer this question: Why do you think this study is useful to your research project?

Introduction

Introduces the broad overall topic and provides basic background information.  Then narrows down to the specific research question relating to the topic. Provides the purpose and focus for the rest of the article and sets the justification for research. Sometimes this includes a literature review, which describes past important research and relate it specifically to the research question.

5. Answer this question: What does the introduction to your article say is the purpose of this study?

6. Answer this question: What are some of the terms that the article “operationalizes” or defines?

7. In a few sentences, summarize the background information provided about the study’s topic: 

Methods

Describes the research design and methodology used to complete the study.  Includes the sample of who was studied and sample size.

8. Answer this question: Is this a qualitative, quantitative, or mixed research study?

9. Briefly describe the methodology employed in the study:

Results

Presents the results of the analysis related to the research question or problem.

10. Briefly describe some results from the study’s data analysis:

Discussion/Conclusion

This section should be a discussion of the results, and the implications on the field. The research question should be answered and validated by the interpretation of the results. This section could also discuss how results relate to previous research, any cautions about the findings, and potential for future research.

11. Complete this sentence about the research article’s discussion:  The data reported here provide evidence of …

12. Answer this question: What are the study’s limitations?

13. Answer this question: What recommendations does the study make for future research?

14. Summarize the conclusion that the authors reached about their study’s research question.

References

This section will be an alphabetized list of all the academic sources of information utilized in the paper, written in APA style.

15. Provide two of the references listed on the article’s reference page: