Parts of a Journal Article

Credit

Results

The Results section presents the findings of the research, usually through text, tables, and figures. It should objectively report the outcomes of the study without interpretation or speculation. This area focuses on data, as well as an explanation as to which statistical methods were used to interpret the data.

Journal Title

In this example, the journal title is separate from the other elements but still in the header. This article was published in the journal Journal of Catalogicial Sciences. This is the full journal title; a shortened title was provided in the first section (J Cat Sci).

Methods

The Methods section (sometimes referred to as Methodology or Materials and Methods) describes how the research was conducted, including details about the study design, participants or sample, data collection procedures, and data analysis methods. Basically: what did the author(s) do?

Author(s)

The two authors of this article are Patrick J Owen and Severine Lamon. The names of both authors have a superscript number 1. Use this one in the next line to see where each author works. In this case, both are at Deakin University, working at the School of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences.

Credits

This example article was created by Sophie Scott and David Scott and can be found on the OSF website.

Journal and Publishing Information

The header usually includes information about the journal and publishing information, In this case, Cat-related Science Publishing is the publishing company. There is a shortened journal ttle (J Cat Sci), the year of publication (2021), the volume (5), issue (2), and page number (1).

Article Title

The title provides a succinct description of the article's content, helping readers understand the focus and scope of the research. The title of this article is Are cats good? An important study. Include the entire article title in a citation, but you may need to adjust the capitalization based on the rules of the citation style you are using.

Discussion

The Discussion section looks at the applications or implications of the findings/results. This is usually less numbers-based and focuses more on interpreting the results for real life and what those findings mean. Sometimes the Conclusion section is part of the Discussion.

References

The References section lists the sources cited in the article, providing readers with the opportunity to locate and verify the information presented. It also acknowledges the contributions of other researchers in the field. These full references match to in-text citations or footnotes within the text of the article.

Abstract

The abstract summarizes the key points of the article, including the research question, methodology, findings, and conclusions. It helps readers quickly assess whether the article is relevant to their interests. The abstract is usually the first paragraph following the title and author information. It may have a header stating Abstract but not always.

Introduction

The Introduction explains the purpose of the article by providing background information on the topic, outlining the research problem or question, and stating the purpose and objectives of the study. The introduction may include a literature review, although sometimes the literature review is presented as a separate section. A literature review summarizes previous research on a topic and identifies gaps in the literature. Expect to see a lot of in-text citations or footnotes in this area! Refer to the references section for the full citations.

Conclusion

The conclusion summarizes the main findings of the study, restates the significance of the research, and may offer recommendations for practice or further investigation. Not all articles have a separate conclusion; many include this as the final part of the Discussion section.