How to Read an Academic

Article

POSTGRADUATE DEGREE OF ELEMENTARY EDUCATION

ELEMENTARY STUDY PROGRAM
FKIP THE UNIVERSITY OF BENGKULU
 Why do I have to Read an Academic Article?

To write a proposal and a Master degree thesis.

What do I need to read ?

 Books, Conference papers (secondary sources/
sumber kedua)
 Journal articles (primary sources /sumber utama)
Research Papers
 Conference papers (shorter)

 Journal papers (longer)

• Often the complete version of a conference paper
• May come out several years after the conference
paper
Conference papers (pp. 243-248)

slide 4
Journal papers (106-118)

slide 5
 What is an
academic journal?
• Academic journals are
periodicals in which
researchers publish articles on
their work.
 What is an academic journal?

• Academic journals are periodicals in which researchers

publish articles on their work.
• Most often these articles discuss recent research.
• Journals also publish theoretical discussions and articles that
critically review already published work.
• Academic journals are typically peer-reviewed journals.
• Some, but not all, search engines that search for periodical
sources identify whether or not the sources are from peer-
reviewed publications
 What is the peer-review process?

Getting published in peer-reviewed (also called “refereed”) academic

Journals usually involves three or four steps.
1. Submit an article manuscript for consideration.
2. Journal editors will send the submission to other scholars who do similar work and
who are qualified to review the article. Generally, editors will send submissions to
be reviewed by three other scholars.
3. Editors will evaluate the reviews and decide whether to reject or accept the
submission. Usually, the response is either a rejection or an acceptance contingent
on the author making revisions.
4. If the author is asked to make revisions, they are to edit and resubmit the article for
another round of reviews. Sometimes the article is accepted at this point and other
times authors are asked to make further revisions.
 When looking through journals, databases,
etc. that show you dozens (or hundred) of
articles, you need to narrow down your list to
read.

Choosing Read the title: titles typically reveal the main

theory or variables being investigated in the
an article article

Read the abstract: the abstract will give you

more information about the context of the
theory and variable to see if it relates to your
topic
 • Scholars write academic articles to share
their ideas with their peers, usually within
their own academic discipline (e.g., physics,
literature, psychology).
What is • Articles fall under the realms of:
• research reports: presentation of an
the original study or studies
• literature review articles: discusses
purpose existing research about a problem and
suggests paths for future studies

of • theoretical articles: discusses existing

theories that explain observation, and
often proposes new theories or a new
academi perspective on theories
• Because they already share a highly
c specialized background, they often assume
that their readers already understand some of

articles? the fundamental knowledge of the field as

well as the jargon.
• Jargon requires on-going attention.
 How to Read an Academic Article
Academic articles are different from newspaper articles or
magazine articles.
An academic journal publishes scholarly, peer-reviewed
articles written by experts. The function of a journal is to
distribute knowledge, not to make money for the publisher.
 How to Read an Academic Article
Scholarly documentation provides the exact source – including
the author and the page number – for every important bit of
outside information. The article should end with a detailed
bibliography. Footnotes or endnotes may be present.

The article will probably be long, complex, and possibly difficult for

a non-expert to understand right away.

scholarly — each fact or

opinion is documented
 How to Read an Academic Article
So how do we go about reading academic articles without
wasting too much time or energy?

You need to become not only avid readers, but

also efficient readers, able to extract the
maximum information from an academic
article with the least effort.

You need to learn, in other words, the art of the

skim.
 How to Read an Academic Article
No single way works for everyone
but this is a basic outline that will
help you get started!

Let’s start with a three step process because no one

will understand academic articles the first time they
are read.
 How to Read an Academic Article
Step One
1. Read the abstract (if provided)

2. Read the INTRODUCTION

3. Section headings and sub-headings. But

skip everything else.
why the study was conducted,
what hypotheses were tested,
What research questions were answered
are the research goals related to your research
interests.

If you are still interested, read Results and Discussion

or the main body if it is a communication.
 How to Read an Academic Article
4. Read the conclusion.

5. Skim the middle, looking at section titles,

tables, figures, etc.—try to get a feel for the
style and flow of the article.
 How to Read an Academic Article
Step Two

Go back and read the whole

thing quickly, skipping
equations, most figures and
tables.
 How to Read an Academic Article
Step Three
Go back and read the whole thing
carefully, focusing on the sections or
areas that seem most important.
 Template for Taking Notes on Research
Articles:

Easy
access
for later
use
Exercise
• Cari sebuah artikel dari jurnal Sinta 1 atau
Sinta 2 atau 3. (artikel dalam bah. Indonesia)
• Gunakan template yang diberikan (slide 12)
untuk membuat ringkasan dari artikel.
• Artikel yang digunakan diminta untuk
dilampirkan pada tugas.
By now, you may
be tired of this
paper…
but don’t relax yet.
Save energy for
the overall
reflection and
criticism.
 How to Read an Academic Article

Once you’ve grasped the basic argument the

author is trying to make, critique it!
Ask if the argument makes sense. Is it internally consistent? Well
supported by argument or evidence? (This skill takes some
experience to develop!)
Reading a Paper Critically
 Understand the problem
 Understand the proposed solution
 Understand competing approaches / designs
 Evaluate the paper

 Peer review is the cornerstone of the scientific

publishing process
Why?
 Learn to do research
 Learn to think critically about quality of research
papers
• Someone will be thinking critically about your own
work!
• In any discipline, there are fads and there are lasting
ideas… learn to tell the difference!
 Gain perspective
 Key issue: what are the questions to ask?
Evaluating a Paper
 What is the problem being solved?
• Is it important? Relevant? Why?
• What is the prior work in this area?
 Is the proposed solution clever?
• Cleverness is orthogonal to importance!
 Are the assumptions and model reasonable?
 Impact
• Easier to evaluate for older papers
• Does other work build on it? Do other papers uses
techniques and solutions proposed in this paper?
Evaluation Process
 Read slowly, take notes as you read
• Question assumptions, importance of the problem
• Write questions to track what you don’t understand
 Sometimes what is not in the paper is more
important than what is in it
• Is there something the authors have overlooked?
 Don’t let ideas or design details pass until you
understand them!
 Do not assume the paper is correct, even if
published in a prestigious peer-reviewed venue
 The famous duck-rabbit
ambiguous image.

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