Review the sections of a scholarly article. Some scholarly articles contain all of these sections. Others contain some of them.
| Section | Description |
|---|---|
| Abstract | Brief description of the article. You can read this to decide whether you want to read the entire article. |
| Introduction | Description of the problem, or the research question, and why this study is being done. Sometimes includes a short literature review. |
| Literature review | Not present in all scholarly articles. Discussion of other sources, such as books and articles, that informed the writer(s) of this article. Includes background information on the topic, and describes research studies that have been conducted related to this topic. |
| Methods | Found in articles that are about an author's scientific research study. Description of the way the research study was set up, and how data was collected. |
| Results | Found in articles that are about an author's scientific research study. Presentation of the research study results. Usually includes charts and tables. |
| Discussion | Analysis and criticism. Discussion of whether the results of the study answer the research question. This section isn't always labeled. |
| Conclusion | Description of how this study contributes to previous research on this topic, and ideas for future research others might do on this topic. Wraps up the article. This section isn't always labeled. |
| References or Works Cited | List of resources (books, articles, etc.) cited in this article. |