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English 207: Health Science Writing

Resources and skills for writing, research, and citing sources in the Health Sciences

Library Lesson 2: Reading Scientific Articles - Video and Slides

Part 2 of a 2-part series on library research skills for ENG 207 students. This second lesson is about how research articles are structured and strategies for skimming them.

Parts of a scientific article

Section

Concept

 What to look for
Abstract Brief overview of the article Does the abstract align with my research topic and audience?

Introduction

Introduces past research, a gap in literature, and how their research fills that gap

 What is the main question being asked?

Methods

How they conducted their research

 Who/what is being studied (population/issue/etc.)?

Results

What they found

 What are interesting stats/data?

Discussion

What their results mean

What are core implications/impact?

Conclusion

Review of major findings

What do we still not know about this topic?

References

List of articles that they used in their research article

Do these authors/studies seem credible? 

Tips for reading scientific articles

While reading - keep in mind:

  • Does this article match my research focus?
  • Does this information match the audience I am speaking to?

Scan/Skim By:

  • Read first sentence of paragraphs
  • Float your eye until you see words related to your research
  • Read surrounding sentences more closely