Skip to Main Content

How to read a journal article

How to read a journal article

The initial reading of an article is not designed to be detailed but to familarise yourself with the article, its content and key points and help you decide whether it is going to be of use to you and worth reading in more depth. The idea is to read the article quickly (also known as skimming) in order to find out what it is about and how it is organised.

  • Start with the title and abstract of the article to make the initial decision on relevancy and usefulness to your topic.
  • If it does, then look at the following sections of the article in this order to further refine your decision as to whether to use it or not,
    • Introduction
    • Conclusion and discussion
    • Results
    • Methods
    • References
    • Labels on tables, images, diagrams etc

 

Moeller, K. (2014) Anatomy of an Article:  ASU - Ask A Biologist. Available at: https://askabiologist.asu.edu/explore/anatomy-of-an-article (Accessed: 13 June 2021)

"How to read a journal article" by Teeside University Library licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 / modified from original with additional text.

Before you start your initial reading, you need to think of what you want from the article and what keywords or terms you hope to find. Think of two or three terms that describe what you want to know, and as you skim, keep an eye out for those terms. Skimming without knowing what you hope to find can cause drowsiness and lack of attention, defeating the purpose of skimming.

 

  • Look for keywords/terms that are related and applicable to your topic/assignment question/research area 
     

  • Initially, just read the first sentence of each paragraph. This introductory sentence usually describes what information will follow in that paragraph, if the start of a sentence holds no promise of it giving you the information you want, skip to the next sentence.
     

  • When skimming over a longer section of text, move your eyes vertically as much as you move your eyes horizontally. In other words, you move your eyes down the page as much as you move them from side to side.
     

  • Highlight or underline anything that looks relevant. Don't worry if you don't full understand it on your initial reading you can come back to it later.
     

  • Don't take detailed notes. The initial reading stage is to to gain an overview of the content and to determine whether the article is useful and worth looking at in more depth.

 

In summary:

  • Read the title, the abstract, the introduction etc. and any headings and subheadings
  • Read the first sentence of each paragraph
  • Read text by checking for keywords rather than trying to fully understand the information in the sentence
  • Look at illustrations (photographs, pictures, charts, diagrams, tables)