Skip to Main Content

FYSP 178: Social Justice and Professional Athlete Activism

All About Scholarly Articles

Both scholarly and peer-reviewed articles are written by experts in academic or professional fields.

Scholarly articles are published in journals for specific academic disciplines. Many scholarly journals are also peer-reviewed.

Peer-reviewed articles been submitted to reviewers who are experts in the field. Because the reviewers specialize in the same scholarly area as the author, they are considered the author’s peers (hence “peer review”).

Both scholarly and peer-reviewed articles are excellent places to find what has been studied or researched on a topic, as well as find references to additional relevant sources of information. 

An assortment of quadrilaterals.Articles

Articles are works of writing published in serial or periodical publications; this includes scholarly and peer-reviewed journals, but also trade publications, newsletters, magazines, newspapers, blogs, and more!

An assortment of rectangles.Scholarly Articles

Scholarly articles are written by experts in academic or professional fields, and are published in journals for specific academic disciplines.

An assortment of squares.Peer-reviewed Articles

Peer-reviewed articles are scholarly articles that have been reviewed and vetted by experts in the field. Because these reviewers specialize in the same scholarly area as the author, they are considered the author’s peers (hence “peer review”).

1. Read The Abstract
The abstract will give you a general understanding of the article. Also, pay attention to the authors and their titles.

2. Read The Conclusion

The conclusion will summarize the author's findings including ways of improving the research.

3. Read The Introduction

The introduction will set up the layout of the article and the main argument of the article.

Tip #1: Highlight important ideas.

4. Read The First And Last Sentence Of Each Paragraph

The first and last sentence of each paragraph will give you a brief understanding of the discussion. 

Tip #2: Take notes on the margins.

5. Read The Rest Of The Article

After getting a general idea of the article, read the entire article to get a full picture of the author's argument.

Tip #3: Repeat steps one and two.

Original

An article that reports on original research such as an experiment, or analysis of data, a creative work, phenomena, or historical event.

Review

An article summarizing the results of many original articles investigating similar topics. May use analytic techniques such as meta-analysis to statistically compare data from multiple studies.

Tip #1 - Many scholarly journals, especially in the Humanities, also publish book reviews of scholarly books. These are not the same as review articles!

Theory

An article intended to contribute to the theoretical foundations of a field, providing explanations for phenomena and frameworks that can be used to guide the analysis of evidence.

Scholarly Articles