Introduction
Research articles, especially in a social science field like psychology, have a relatively reliable structure.
If you are already familiar with research articles, the sections and structure might be familiar. If you have not read research articles before, you will start to familiarize yourself with the structure. Becoming familiar with the structure and conventions of research articles will help you read and understand research more easily.
Article Structure
Here are some things that you will likely be able to find from each section of the article:
First page with title, etc.
- Who did the study and what their credentials are
- The journal that the article was published in
- When they article was published
- The publisher of the journal
- The abstract, which gives an overview of the research that was done and its findings
Abstract (often also on the first page)
- Why the study was done
- Brief overview of how the study was done and what was learned
Introduction and Literature Review
- Sometimes these sections are combined, and sometimes there is a short introduction that is followed by a lit review.
- The authors cite and discuss the prior research they read to learn about the topic.
- They identify a gap in the research or something that needs more research and explain how they arrived at their research question.
Methods
- Describes the research study that was done and how it was conducted.
- Includes information on who or what was studied, how participants were recruited, and what they did.
Results
- A report of the data or information that was collected by the study and how the researchers analyzed it.
- The results section is sometimes indimidating to students, as you are still learning about research and analysis methods, and this section often describes them in depth, but doesn't necessarily explain them for someone who is unfamiliar.
- If you feel overwhelmed, don't worry, and keep going to the...
Discussion
- Explains the results more.
- Interpretation of the results, which might include identifying what the relationships are between this data and that from previous studies.
- Includes what the researchers think the results mean.
Conclusion
- Wraps up the paper and may comment on areas for future research.
