In order to tackle an article, it's important to understand how they are structured. Most (but not all) scholarly articles are laid out as follows:
| Title (what): | A good title should tell you what exactly the article is about. |
| Abstract (summary): | A brief description of the article that tells you its focus, purpose, and often, its thesis/hypothesis. |
| Introduction (why): | The beginning of the article's body, this is where the author explains the purpose of their study, what its main points are, and what is unique about it. It will also include their thesis/hypothesis. |
| Literature Review (who else): | A discussion of what others have written on the topic, what other studies have said, and what holes remain to be filled. It may be included as a part of the introduction or be its own separate part of the article. |
| Method (how): | An explanation of how the author undertook their study, what techniques they used, and, if it's a scientific study, how they carried out their experiments. This should be detailed enough that a reader could duplicate the study. |
| Results (what happened): | The findings of the study, including any data or statistics collected, often in the form of charts, graphs, and tables. Usually does not include analysis of the data. |
| Discussion (what it means): | Arguably the most important part of the article, this section includes the author's analysis of their study's results, explaining what they thought was significant about their research, and what the results mean. |
| Conclusion (what was learned): | A wrap-up of the article, explaining how the study proved its thesis/hypothesis, what the study contributes to the field, and recommendations for future research. It may be included as a part of the discussion or be its own section. |
| Citations/References (what else): | A list of all the sources the author used during the completion of their study and the writing of the article. |
