How to Read Scholarly Materials

Identifying Scholarly Materials

Learning to read scholarly materials is an important part of your academic experience. Reading research journal articles, academic books, and other sources is different than reading more popular items.

Correctly reading scholarly materials helps you get the most out of your sources and increases your understanding of your subject. We'll review steps you can take to better read and understand scholarly sources.

Read Strategically

Scholarly materials can be difficult to read comprehensively. They usually contain large amounts of jargon—or terminology specific to a particular field—and can make you feel like you need to learn a new language. These materials also can be very focused and require more background knowledge to understand than you currently may possess. However, there are ways to read scholarly materials in a more strategic manner in order to glean important information.

Identify Scholarly Materials

In order to read scholarly materials accurately, you first need to be able to identify them. Let's look at the most common attributes of scholarly materials.

• Aesthetics: As opposed to popular sources, scholarly materials aren't as flashy. You'll see fewer images and decorative elements. Every part of a scholarly source has a purpose.
• Audience: Scholarly articles are written for scholars and experts in a specific research field and can include a wide variety of disciplines, including the sciences, social sciences, humanities, and other subjects.
• Authority: Authors of published scholarly materials are experts in their fields, have credentials and affiliations to prove their authority, and can pass the peer-review process.
• Jargon: Special terminology and language specific to a particular field of study is called jargon.
• Peer Review: In scholarly materials, peer review is the evaluation of sources (usually articles) submitted for publication by researchers in the same discipline.

Components of Scholarly Materials

Scholarly materials, in addition to various attributes, can be broken down by component.

The components are:

• Title
• Abstract
• Introduction
• Literature Review
• Methodologies
• Results
• Discussion

Title

The title of an article is a concise statement of the main research topic. This is important to note because database search results typically are displayed by the research articles' titles.

Abstracts

The purpose of an abstract is to provide a description of the research or analysis being conducted. It outlines the methods or process used in the study. An abstract also gives you a brief overview of the results and conclusions of the author(s). Many online databases provide an article's abstract as part of the search results, so if after reading the article's abstract you find that it is not relevant to your research, you easily can move on to another article. Reading an abstract is in no way the same as reading an entire article. Abstracts may help you narrow down which articles you want to read in full, but they do not give you all of the details or important pieces of information.

Introduction

The introduction acts as a captivating opening act, reeling the reader in with a thought-provoking element before grounding them in the relevant background. It then deftly narrows the focus to the specific research at hand, highlighting its significance and contribution to the field. By briefly previewing the key points and maintaining clear, concise, and professional language, the introduction creates a roadmap for the reader and sets the stage for a compelling journey through the research.

Literature Reviews

A literature review can be a section within a paper. In many disciplines, the literature review provides the reasoning behind the current article's research focus. Its main purpose is to provide background and context for the current research, explaining possible gaps in past research, and synthesizing the sources being reviewed.

Methodologies

Methodology sections detail the steps taken by a scholar in the process of researching. This can be presented as a list of steps and tools used in a lab experiment, or it can refer to the survey question formulation and implementation involved in marketing research. Methodology sections allow other scholars to duplicate the author's research. Being able to repeat another's results is one way to determine credibility. It also enables other scholars to determine if a researcher is using the accepted and best practices in a specific field.

Results

The results and discussion sections of scholarly materials are the main body of the author's work. Results and analyses are stated objectively in this section. You also are likely to find visual components here, such as graphs and charts.

Discussion

The discussion section refers back to the primary thesis or research purpose, pointing out interpretations of the research results, limitations of the study, and provide possible areas for future research. You may see an author discuss avenues for future research in the conclusion section of a scholarly article, rather than in the discussion section.

Reading Scholarly Materials

Start by reading the title and the abstract. Your search in a database may return several articles. Reading the title and abstract helps you determine if an article is worth further scrutiny based on your current assignment. Next, read the introduction to get a sense of the author's purpose or focus. Skip ahead to the conclusion for a broad look back at the material. The author also may provide important limitations to the research in this section.

Take a look at the literature review. This section positions the scholar's work and gives you a snapshot of the specific area of research the author is focused on.Next, review the methodology section.

• Does the author employ methods that make sense in his/her field?
• Does the author leave steps out? .
• Could you repeat the author's process?

Next, review the methodology section.

• Does the author employ methods that make sense in his/her field?

• Does the author leave steps out?

• Could you repeat the author's process?

Reading Scholarly Materials

Take a look at the citations/bibliography section.

• Are the sources cited relevant and timely for this field?

• Do a spot check by locating a couple of the sources provided by the author.

• Are they accurate and relevant to the material?

Once you've reviewed all the other sections, read through the results and discussion, to find details and potential information you may want to cite in your current assignment.

Literature Review

Bibliography

Conclusion

Methodology

Conclusion

For additional information, or if you need assistance identifying, locating, or reading scholarly materials, do not hesitate to contact a librarian—they are happy to help.