Research Guides: Public Health Writing Center: How to Read an Article

Public health tackles complex issues. The problems are too big for one person to fix alone. Understanding other people's perspectives on the topic helps you create an effective solution. You also have limited time, money, and resources. You can use those resources in the best way if you know what strategies people have already tried. You will need to gather information through articles, websites, and discussions with other people.

The tips on this page will help you understand the articles you find. Most of the information on this page is about research articles. (The authors will describe a program they tried or an experiment they did.) Other kinds of articles can also be useful. For example, some articles will be personal reflections. Other articles will just summarize information about a topic.

Recommended Process

Research articles have many parts that serve different purposes. Public health practitioners, researchers, and scientists often read the different parts out of order. They start with the sections that are most relevant for their purposes. How you read an article depends on why you are reading it and what you want to know. Find the method that works best for you and your needs.

Dr. Nate Horwitz-Willis, a former professor at MCPHS, recommends this strategy when you write a literature review. It helps you understand and think critically about research articles.

Skip the abstract for now.
Read the title.
Skim the entire article for a general idea of what it is about.
1. Do not take notes yet.
2. Read the first sentence or two in each paragraph.
Start reading the article in depth and take notes as you read.
1. Read the introduction.
  1. What problem do the authors address?
  2. What main questions do the authors want to answer about that problem? (The authors might use statements instead of actual questions. You should still be able to understand what they want to know.)
  3. Pause and write a 3-5 sentence summary of what you read. Include important details, such as why this research is necessary.
  4. Do the authors mention any other questions? Sometimes authors will mention other questions that are not the focus of their research. Sometimes, they will mention other hypotheses. These secondary questions can still be relevant for you.
  5. Note the study's approach, goal(s), aim(s), and / or study design. What did the authors do to answer the problem? The beginning and end of the introduction often have this brief information. If needed, also check the methods section.
2. Read the methods section.
  1. Make sure you understand the study design before you read the rest of the article. Diagram it. Look up unfamiliar terms. Search for more information about this kind of study.
3. Read the results section.
  1. Identify the key results. Underline, highlight, or bullet point them. Consult tables, figures, graphs, and charts.
  2. Do those results actually answer the researchers' questions?
  3. Write your own thoughts about the meaning of those results.
  4. Compare your thoughts to the authors' thoughts. Did they change your mind? It is fine to change your mind! The authors may talk about things you had not considered.
4. Read the discussion.
  1. What do the authors say are strengths and limitations of the study?
  2. What future research is needed?
  3. What are the implications of the study you just read about?
5. Read the abstract.

Parts of a Paper

Most research papers follow a similar format (IMRAD).

Introduction

The introduction provides background information on the topic and summarizes previous research on the topic (the literature review). It points out gaps in the research or conflicting findings. It helps the user understand why the author did their own research and what they wanted to learn from their study. Many times, the introduction will also include the author's hypothesis and the reasons they expected that outcome.

Methods

The methods section describes the study's scope and explains what the authors did. It should tell you what you would need to know if you wanted to do the same study. It will tell you how many people or items the author studied and how they collected the samples. You will see descriptions of important information about the participants or samples. You will see names of tests, chemicals, and software the authors used in their study.

Results

The results section tells you what the authors found. You will often see charts or graphs in this section. The results section has facts. Sometimes the results section is combined with the discussion section.

And

Discussion

The discussion section analyzes the results. It will tell you how the author's results compare to other studies. It will tell you why the author's results are important. If the author's results did not match their hypothesis, it will explore why the results were different than they had expected. The discussion section also usually tells you limitations of the study and topics for further research.

Anatomy of a Scholarly Article

Matching definitions

Section	Definition
Title	The title of a scholarly article is a very brief summary (a sentence or shorter) of the article’s contents. Usually at the very top of the article.
Authors	The authors and their credentials appear near the top of the article. Credentials are provided to establish authority and to provide contact information.
Abstract	A summary of the article, usually under 250 words. It contains a description of the problem, an outline of the study, and a summary of the conclusions. Readers can use it to quickly decide whether to read the article.
Introduction	Describes the topic or problem the authors researched. The authors will present their thesis or the research goal, and the importance of the research question.
Literature Review	An overview of related research that has already been published. It may be included in the introduction or be its own section.
Charts & graphs	Scholarly articles frequently contain charts or graphs to display statistical data used and analysis done.
Methods	A clear description of how study was done, why those procedures were chosen, and which statistical tests were done to analyze data.
Results	This section is where the findings of the study are reported based on the information gathered and analyzed. It simply and logically states the findings, without bias or interpretation.
Discussion	Interprets and describes, in plain language, the results and the significance of the findings in the context of what was already known about the research problem.
Conclusion	At the end of the article. Authors summarize the results of their research, discuss how their finding relate to other scholarship, or encourage other researchers to continue their work.
References	Listed at the end of the paper, most scholarly articles contain references to publications by other authors. Each one listed connects to a citation used in the paper. You can use them to find additional sources on the topic.

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