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Journals & Periodicals: Identifying Scholarly Sources

Learn how to distinguish between the 3 major categories of information sources: scholarly, popular, and trade.

How to Read a Scholarly Research Article

Don't think of scholarly articles as books that you read from start to finish.

Look at:

  1. The title
  2. The abstract (summary)
  3. Read the introduction
  4. Read the section headings used in the article
  5. Skip to the discussion/conclusion

Still good? Start reading all the through. Read once for an overall impression, then read a second time (or more) to start taking notes and highlighting choice bits.

Reading Scholarly Articles: Additional Resources & Practice