TriBeta Program

The Parts of a Scholarly Article:

Abstract

Thesis Statement/Introduction

Describes the problem the author is trying to solve
The thesis statement (or exact question being answered) will be in the Introduction
The Introduction will give a brief break down of the question, and what the author hopes to find.

Methods

Explanation of how the study was conducted and what was involved
Methods section will answer "what did the author do?" & "who/what was it done to?"

Results

Discussion

author compares findings to previous research, talks about any limitations, and suggests related areas to be studied
This section will interpret the results, suggest what comes next, and any reason the author feels the methods did not yield expected results.

References

contains all the articles, other works, the author cited in their article
Reference sections are a GREAT place to look for additional articles for your own papers!

This video from Western University gives a beautiful break down on reading the different parts of a scholarly article.

All materials prepared for and directly part of this guide are made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike (CC-BY-NC-SA) license.