Research Guide: Scholarly Journals

Use this guide to learn more about scholarly journals and the peer-review process

Hypothesis or Thesis

Looking for the author's thesis or hypothesis

The image below shows the part of the scholarly article that shows where the authors are making their argument. 

(click on image to enlarge)

This is an image of a journal article with a section in the first paragraphs highlighted to show that they are the author's thesis or hypothesis, or the main point they will discuss.

  • The first few paragraphs of a journal article serve to introduce the topic, to provide the author's hypothesis or thesis, and to indicate why the research was done.  
  • A thesis or hypothesis is not always clearly labeled; you may need to read through the introductory paragraphs to determine what the authors are proposing.