ENGL 128 Research Writing: Science, Engineering and Business

Anatomy of a Research Article

Anatomy of a Research Article

Click on the tabs in this box to learn more about the various sections of a research article. Use the link below to access the entire article that is shown in the images here. 

Consider: Theoretical Essay or Primary Research?
  • Peer-reviewed articles have different organizations depending on their purpose. Scholarly articles in the Humanities are often organized as essays that look deeper into a work or idea. This article will generally not be broken into sections, but just like the essays you would write for a class, the beginning will have some introduction to the content, and the end will include some conclusions
  • Peer-reviewed articles that cover experimental research findings or analyze results may be organized differently-- having "Introduction," "Methods / Experimental," "Conclusion / Discussion" and "Reference" sections

Citation Information

Authors, Article title, Journal, Date & Issues & the Abstract

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  • The article title, author info, journal title, data info. 
  • The abstract summarizes the reason for the study, hypothesis or question, methodology, findings, and conclusion. 

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Elements of research article 1 - image text is also on page.

Author Information & Peer-Review Process

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  • Author affiliations indicate their authority on the subject & provide contact info for other researchers
  • The peer-review process can take a year or more, though in this instance the article was received, accepted, and published within four months.

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Image of author affiliation & peer review timeline info

The Introduction

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  • The introduction states why the research was conducted, what they researched, and what we know and don't know from existing research.
  • In-text citations point to and credit the many research studies this current study is building on.
  • For your own research, you can track down those studies listed in the references section

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The article introduction

The Methodology

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  • The methodology section lays out the processes by which the study was conducted. 
  • This section is detailed and enables the study to be replicated and validated by others.

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The methodology

The Results

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  • The results section presents an organized summary of the raw data gathered in the study. 
  • Charts, tables, equations, and narratives are typical.

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The Results

The Discussion

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  • The discussion interprets the raw data and makes sense of it within the context of existing research and the context of the researchers' questions. 

(click on image to enlarge)The discussion

The Conclusion

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  • The conclusion tends to be brief. Authors restate what they studied, and state what they learned and what they didn't learn, the significance of their findings, and steps for future research. 
  • Authors shared their datasets so other researchers could build on their work.
  • Funding is mentioned as thanks and to be transparent about any potential conflicts of interest.

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The Conclusion

The References

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  • Scholarship is thoroughly and extensively cited! This article has 3.5 densely packed pages of sources. 
  • Reference credit all whose ideas are referenced or quoted.
  • It is a good practice to "mine" the reference list of articles you find helpful when you do research.

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The Full Article