MONT 199N-F01: Exploring Biodiversity (Crofts)

Reading Scholarly Articles

To get the most out of your research, you want to approach scholarly articles strategically. You may not read a scholarly article from start to finish the same way you would a book. Instead, focus on some key sections to get a general idea of what the article is about, and then read it thoroughly.

Most scholarly articles have an abstract, which introduces the topic and key themes. Read this first to determine what the article is about. Then, read the conclusion to get a summary of the article's findings. Next, go back to the introduction to see what the article will address and take note of what seems relevant to your research. Skim the rest of the article for headings or sections to see how the article is structured and what will be talked about in each section. Lastly, read the full article, paying close attention to those sections you identified as most relevant. 

Take Notes

Take notes while you're reading of any themes, ideas, or questions that come up. If there are unfamiliar words or concepts, underline or highlight them and remember to look them up later. The Sample Methods of Research Notetaking document linked below gives some suggestions for how to take notes while you're reading.

How to Read a Scholarly Article - University of Illinois

About Scholarly Journals

In addition to evaluating a specific article, you should also spend some time looking at where the article was published. Most academic articles are published in scholarly journals, also called academic journals, scientific journals, or peer-reviewed journals. These are periodicals (meaning they are published on a regular schedule) that contain multiple articles written by experts in a particular field. Scholarly journals are subject-specific, so articles published in a journal are all within the same academic discipline (for example, you won't find research articles about the effects of waste in the Florida Everglades in the same journal as you find analysis of Shakespeare's sonnets). 

Peer Review

If you are asked to use scholarly sources, you will likely be told those sources should be peer reviewed. Peer review is a process used by many academic journals to make sure they publish high quality research that has been vetted by experts. In peer review, researchers submit their manuscript to an academic journal for publishing. The journal editor then sends that article to a group of reviewers who are experts in the field. Those reviewers read the draft and look critically at things like the research methods, the structure of the manuscript, the quality of the research, and whether it is a good fit for the journal. Reviewers send feedback to the original researchers who can then edit the draft based on that feedback. At the end of this process, the reviewers recommend to the journal editor if the article should be published or rejected and the journal editor makes a decision based on the reviewers' feedback.

Peer review acts as a layer of quality control for scholarly research. It is a method to try and filter out research that doesn't meet a journal's standards or the standards of a scholarly field. When you read a peer reviewed article, you know it has been seen by other experts before it made its way to you.

Finding Journal Information

When you find a scholarly article, look for the name of the journal it is published in. Some databases will provide a link directly to the journal's website. Either follow the link or type the name of the journal into a search engine to get to the journal's website. Spend some time looking around the website. Look for a heading like About the Journal or Journal Scope. These sections will give you an overview of the journal, including what subject area it publishes in. They may also tell you whether articles in the journal are peer reviewed.