Two minute video on how to skim the key parts of a scholarly article to determine if it is relevant for your assignment.
Used with permission of Western University under Creative Commons license (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 US)
Scholarly articles in the sciences follow a particular format. You may not always see every part labeled, but the content will include the following:
ABSTRACT – a summary of the article
INTRODUCTION – a brief explanation of the research topic and why this particular research was performed.
MATERIALS and METHODS – How the research was performed
RESULTS – The results of the research. An explanation of what happened.
DISCUSSION or CONCLUSION – What do the results mean? What is significant or important of them? What was learned?
REFERENCES – The research of others that was consulted in the writing of this article.
Below is an example article with each of the above elements labeled.
Learn how to identify the characteristics of scholarly articles in Introduction to Scholarly Articles in this six minute tutorial.
Knowing how to find relevant, reliable, and accurate information can help you create better research assignments. These same skills will help you make informed decisions about real world questions, too, such as buying a car or evaluating financial aid options. Use the criteria below (also known as the CRAAP Test) to help you evaluate the information you find.
Currency: The timeliness of the information.
Relevance: The importance of the information for your needs.
Authority: The source of the information.
Accuracy: The reliability, truthfulness and correctness of the content.
Purpose: The reason the information exists.
Adapted from Evaluating Information – Applying the CRAAP Test, Meriam Library, California State University, Chico. http://www.csuchico.edu/lins/handouts/eval_websites.pdf