A scientific/empirical/research article reports methods and findings of an original research study conducted by the authors of the article.
You can identify a scientific article by the order in which its contents are presented in the article:
- Abstract
- Introduction (with Literature review and background information)
- Methods
- Results
- Discussion
- Conclusion
- References
Research article STUDY HACK:
- Read the abstract and conclusion first (sorry, spoiler alert!).
- Take notes as you read, even if that just means underlining parts you might want to use later.
- Finally, try to ask yourself what do you specifically want out of a source? Looking for pieces of evidence rather filling a “2-5 reliable sources” quota makes it easier to read strategically.