Anatomy of a Research Article

1. Anatomy of a Research Article • Five (or six) major sections • Abstract • Introduction (without a heading!) • Method (and procedures) • Results • Discussion and conclusions • References

2. Anatomy of a Research Article • Abstract • Purpose • Subject • Procedure • Data analysis • Results • Evaluation: Is information about these major aspects of the research included?

3. Anatomy of a Research Article • Introduction and background • Identify the problem area • Review of related Literature • Purpose of the study • Identify the problem area • Why was the study conducted? • What was the motivation for doing the study? • Evaluation: Is the author’s reason for conducting the study clear?

4. Anatomy of a Research Article • Introduction (continued) • Review of related literature • Grounds the research topic within a tradition of inquiry. • Summarize relevant research results. • Evaluation: Are research studies related to the problem area presented? Does the study logically extend the findings (or conclusions) from earlier studies? • Purpose • States specific expectations (hypotheses) to be tested. • Identifies the specific questions to be answered. • Evaluation: Are the research variables easily identified from the hypotheses, questions, or statement of purpose?

5. Anatomy of a Research Article • Method • Subjects • Target population • Sampling procedures • Instruments • Procedures • Treatments • Data gathering procedures • Operational definitions • Evaluation: Is sufficient detail provided to allow exact replication?

6. Anatomy of a Research Article • Results • Describes the types of procedures used to organize and analyze the data. • For quantitative studies: • Are sufficient descriptive statistics provided? • Are the inferential statistical procedures appropriate? • Were significance levels indicated? • Were effect sizes provided? • Were there controls for threats to internal and external validity?

7. Anatomy of a Research Article • Results (continued) • For qualitative studies: • Are the processes for organizing data, identifying patterns and synthesizing key ideas as hypothesis and research questions clearly described? • Are there multiple procedures for corroborating research evidence and researchers’ judgements?

8. Anatomy of a Research Article • Conclusion or Discussion • Briefly restates the purpose and results. • Provides explanations of: • Whether the results answered the research quesitons, • How the results relate to the literature reviewed in the introduction, and • The implications the results have for practitioners or other researchers. • References • All cited literature is referenced.

9. Anatomy of a Research Article • To summarize… • Major sections of a research article: • Abstract • Introduction • Method • Results • Conclusion • References