USA: +1(669)289-8683 
Sign in
SS3A: Exercise 1Name:
Exercise 1: Key Aspects of Academic Articles
Save this document as Your Name Exercise 1.docx
Please fill out these questions based on the in-depth article on how to read research.
Although the reading discusses research in social psychology, the details about reading
APA research reports apply to our class, as well as the majority of social science articles.
The questions follow the order of the article. While the model tends to center on
quantitative approaches, qualitative work often incorporates a similar logic as there is an
expectation that the approach one uses is explicated in some manner so that readers can
understand the underlying logics of the research and findings.
While you are reading the article and answering these questions, please keep in mind that
you will be writing the initial sections of a research report, which are the major portions
of a research proposal.
The first set of questions refer to specific sections/portions of a research article:
1. Why is it important to know how to read journal articles?
2. Why is having documentation of past research on a topic important?
3. What is the difference between a research report and a review article?
4. What can you learn from the title? (Note: The first mention of variables is in the
paragraphs describing the title. Make notes on variables as you read through the articleyou will need to understand variables for your research paper.
5. How long is the abstract?
6. You will write an introduction to a research report. How does the introduction begin?
7. What does the author try to accomplish in the first two or three paragraphs of the
introduction?
8. What three components are described in the methods section?
9. Why is the information presented in the results section often intimidating?
10. What is a hypothesis?
SS3A: Exercise 1
11. Why do readers often read the first few paragraphs of the discussion section before
reading the entire report?
The next few questions refer to the article as a whole:
12. Although this article does not state it specifically, the hypotheses are placed at the end of
the introduction, just before the methods section. Why do you think this is a natural place
for them?
13. Where will you find the number of participants as well as characteristics such as the age
and gender?
14. Where will you find the statistics for the results of the research?
15. If you are looking for ideas for your own research, where might you find help in a
research article? (Hint: The answer is at the toward the end of the article).
When you have completed this exercise:
Save this document as Your Name Exercise 1.docx and upload to Canvas.
8/4/22, 5:12 PM
Week 1 Lectures: SOC SCI 3A LEC B: COMP RES IN SOC SCI (70030)
Week 1 Lectures
Lecture: The Research Process
These lectures present an overview of the research process.
Please note that you may need to be on the UCI server to access lecture videos. Please make
sure to go to the library’s VPN page (https://www.lib.uci.edu/connect) for the various options.
Here is a PDF copy of the slides. (https://canvas.eee.uci.edu/courses/47253/files/19591913?
wrap=1)
(https://canvas.eee.uci.edu/courses/47253/files/19591913/download?download_frd=1)
42:36 / 42:36
Once we understand the research process, we can begin reading research. If you are familiar
with reading research reports, the overview may be sufficient for you to complete the exercise.
Otherwise, the in-depth article will be more helpful. The lecture exercise is based on the in-depth
article. While it is focused on social psychology specifically, social science articles in general,
especially quantitative but many qualitative, have a pretty normative paper structure.
Overview: Laubepin – “How to Read (and Understand) a Social Science Journal
Article”.pdf (https://canvas.eee.uci.edu/courses/47253/files/19591886/download?wrap=1)
(https://canvas.eee.uci.edu/courses/47253/files/19591886/download?download_frd=1)
Lectures, Part #2
Here we delve into the components of how to read and extract the important components of the
research articles that we read. The writing system in the social sciences is, relatively speaking,
homogeneous: most research articles have a generally standardized expectation of contents of
the papers. This is beneficial for a few reasons but most importantly for the reader is this offers a
https://canvas.eee.uci.edu/courses/47253/pages/week-1-lectures
1/3
8/4/22, 5:12 PM
Week 1 Lectures: SOC SCI 3A LEC B: COMP RES IN SOC SCI (70030)
pretty straight forward approach to pulling out what’s relevant for your purposes. Yes, it is good
and importance to read and learning for learning’s sake but it is also common to work through
extant research and treat each item you read somewhat like a swiss army knife: it has a lot of
moving parts that can be used for a variety of tasks but you also are looking at it for only one or
two purposes. Moreover, articles are especially useful for finding other resources you may need
for your project, thus knowing which threads to tease out for your needs is important.
The lecture video below will take you through a sample article, highlighting both some ways of
thinking about their uses and purposes (both as a “learn about this topic” approach but also as a
“what could this article be useful for” approach). Important note: there is a glitch in the video
where I show some tips on notetaking but the screen is black. See video below it for another
video on reading over articles.
Below it I also included a short YouTube video explaining peer review so you can understand how
the articles end up published.
this is a replacement video for where the screen is black halfway through the above video.
https://canvas.eee.uci.edu/courses/47253/pages/week-1-lectures
2/3
8/4/22, 5:12 PM
Week 1 Lectures: SOC SCI 3A LEC B: COMP RES IN SOC SCI (70030)
00:03 / 27:08
Slides shown in the first half of the video
(https://canvas.eee.uci.edu/courses/47253/files/19591892?wrap=1)
(https://canvas.eee.uci.edu/courses/47253/files/19591892/download?download_frd=1)
Peer Review in 3 Minutes
https://canvas.eee.uci.edu/courses/47253/pages/week-1-lectures
3/3
1
How to Read (and Understand) a Social Science Journal Article
What is an academic journal article?
Academic journals are periodicals in which researchers publish their work. They are typically peer-‐reviewed
journals, meaning that the work is reviewed and evaluated by other scholars prior to publication in an effort to
ensure that only the best, most rigorously researched articles are published.
Journal articles offer a window into the inner workings of a discipline. They demonstrate how social scientists
formulate hypotheses, design empirical studies, analyze the observations they collect, and interpret their results.
Journal articles can appear daunting and often make for dense, dry reading, but they generally follow a
standardized format. Once you understand the structure of each article, knowing where to look for important
information and understanding the content becomes much easier.
Anatomy of a journal article
A journal article is composed of inter-‐related parts. Together, they tell a story about a piece of research.
Element
What it is
What it tells you
Title
The title presents a concise statement of What is this article about?
the theoretical issues investigated.
Abstract
One paragraph that appears before the
What is this article about?
article. It provides a summary of the
What topic is the author studying?
entire article.
What was her primary finding?
Introduction
This section introduces the topic of the
What is this article about?
article and discusses what the article
What does the author plan to do in the paper?
contributes to existing knowledge on the Why should we care about this
topic.
problem/study?
What is the author trying to test or show?
How does she intend to contribute to the
field?
Literature Review
The purpose of a literature review is to
What do we already know about this topic and
(this can either be
discuss previous work on the topic, point what is left to discover?
included in the
out what questions remain, and relate
What are some of the most important past
introduction or come
the research presented in the rest of the findings on this topic?
after the introduction
article to the existing literature. There
How have these past studies led the author to
under its own subtitle)
should also be a clear discussion of the
do this particular study?
author’s research hypotheses.
What are the research hypotheses?
Methods and data
The methods section provides
What data did the author use and how did she
information about the individuals that
analyze them?
the author studied and the way that she Who were the participants in this sample?
conducted her analysis. It includes
What makes them unique?
information about the participants, the
Is the sample a good representation of the
procedures, the instruments and the
entire population? If not, how are they
variables that were measured.
different?
Is the study qualitative (based on interviews,
ethnography, participant observation, or
content analysis), quantitative (based on
statistical analysis), or multi-‐method (includes
both qualitative and quantitative analysis)?
Results
The results section explains what the
What did the author find?
Frederique Laubepin, PhD
Inter-‐university Consortium for Political and Social Research, 2013
2
Element
Discussion &
conclusion
References
What it is
author found when she analyzed her
data. It can be quite technical, reporting
the results in detailed statistical
language. Tables and figures are
frequently included.
Articles typically end by discussing in
“plain English” what the results mean
and how the study contributes to existing
knowledge. Here the research questions
are answered and it should be clear at
this point whether the hypotheses were
supported. The conclusion is the final
section. It relates the research back to
the larger context, and suggests avenues
for future research.
This section lists all of the articles and
other sources cited within the article.
What it tells you
What does it all mean and why is it important?
What were the authors’ overall findings?
Why are these findings important?
What limitations of the study do the authors
identify (if any)?
What suggestions for future research do the
authors make (if any)?
Nitty-‐gritty
Main points
New claims
Evidence
Theory
Data/analysis
Graphs, tables
Implications
Limitations
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Publications
on this topic
What is known
about topic
More detail
Title
Abstract
Introduction
Literature review
Methods/data
Results
Discussion/Conclusion
References
Big picture
When it comes to reading journal articles, reading linearly (like you would a novel, starting at the beginning and
reading word for word until you reach the end) is often not the most efficient approach. Depending on your goal,
you may need to cut through peripheral details, ignore sophisticated statistics with which you may not be familiar,
and focus on the central ideas.
How, then, should you read an article?
1. Determine your purpose
Before you even start reading, take a moment to think about what you need to get out of the article. Is this an
assignment for class discussion, an article you want to use in a term paper (if so, how much of it will you need
to use), or one about which you need to write a critique/review? Are you interested in the author’s
theoretical perspective? Her findings? Her methods? Her data? Are you interested in getting a sense of the
research that has been done on a specific topic/issue? Knowing the answer to these questions will determine
your reading strategy.
2. Devise a reading strategy
I’m looking for…
X
X
X
X
Frederique Laubepin, PhD
Inter-‐university Consortium for Political and Social Research, 2013
3
3.
Understand the difference between structural reading and close reading
Structural reading is “a form of close reading applied to the overall structure of an extended text (usually a
book). We focus on what we can learn about the book from its title, introduction, table of contents” (Paul and
Elder 2008). The overview that this approach provides gives perspective. It helps the reader to determine
whether she wants to spend time reading the text and how closely she wants to read it. It also guides her
reading, like a mental scaffolding.
When reading structurally, ask these questions:
-‐
What does the title tell me about this article?
-‐
What is the main idea in the article? (skim the abstract and introduction)
-‐
What are the parts of the whole? What are the sections of the article?
-‐
In light of my structural reading, what questions would I pursue during close reading?
Close reading is exactly as the name suggests. It requires that the reader get up-‐close and personal with the
text. When reading closely, you may want to stop after every paragraph to summarize what is being said,
reflect on the arguments being made, and evaluate the quality of the evidence being presented. This requires
active engagement (or dialogue) with the text. Take ownership of what you read: mark the text up, jot down
questions, comments or observations in the margins, highlight important passages/quotes, and take notes as
you go. Interacting with the text in these ways makes it more likely that you will remember the information as
well.
4.
Don’t waste time!
Very few articles in a field are so important that every word needs to be read carefully. It’s okay to skim and
move on
Sources:
Paul, R. and Elder, L. 2008. How to Read a Paragraph: The Art of Close Reading. Dillon Beach, CA: The Foundation
for Critical Thinking Press.
Weir, R. 2011. “It’s Not Harry Potter” Inside Higher Ed
http://www.insidehighered.com/advice/instant_mentor/essay_on_teaching_students_to_read_journal_articles#ix
zz2W75q1Gqg Accessed 6/13/2013.
Frederique Laubepin, PhD
Inter-‐university Consortium for Political and Social Research, 2013
KEY THINGS TO KEEP IN
MIND WHEN READING
ARTICLES
WHY ARE YOU READING THIS ARTICLE?
• It is important to keep in mind the purpose you’re reading an article
• Is it assigned for a course?
• Use the course topic and the week’s topic to identify the specific purpose
• Are you considering it for a paper you’re writing?
• How might it relate to what you’re wanting to write about
• Are you trying to expand your knowledge on a subject?
• What are you wanting to know more about?
HOW MIGHT YOU USE THIS ARTICLE?
• Is it simply to help contextualize a point/claim?
• Treat it as a grab and go option: make sure you understand the claim/point, integrate it into
what you’re using it for, move on.
• Not all articles are intended (or need) to be used as game changing, theory creating, eye-opening
• Can you use it in multiple papers?
• Does it tell you something beyond the specific empirical point? How might it be theoretically
useful elsewhere?
• Does it help you connect different authors/arguments/papers?
• Have you struggled with connecting some disparate points?
SOME WAYS PEOPLE READ ARTICLES
• From start to finish
• This follows a sort of literature model
• But, social science articles don’t often follow the conventions of a novel.
• Key components
• Introduction, findings, conclusion
• This gives you the empirical results and what they mean, though it loses out broader, theoretical context
• Circuitous
• Figure out what works best for you.
• I’ll often read the introduction, the methods and results, then go back through the literature review
and conclusion after that. At each point, I can then skim through what I’ve already, thereby rereading it and taking what I want from it.
