First Year Instruction: RWS, LING, and GEN S

1. Identify different sections of an article such as the abstract, discussion, and references
2. Read strategically by skipping around an article before doing a closer read 
3. Use annotation and note taking methods to gain a better understanding of the text

Depending on the type of article (review, primary research, systematic review, conference proceeding, etc.), these section may vary.  These are common section headings that you will often find in a research article. 

• Abstract- summary of article
• Introduction- research goals 
• Methods- how the research is conducted
• Charts & figures
• Results- what happened?
• Discussion- what do the results mean? This section may also discuss any barriers or limitations of the research
• Conclusion- what the research learned and the implications 
• References- research articles and other information sources cited in the article 

I always tell students that unlike with reading a novel, they CAN skip to the end of an article to find out the ending.  After reading an article's abstract, I recommend that students skip ahead to the discussion or conclusion section to find out if the article is interesting and relevant to their research.  This is a great time saving tip for new researchers.  

Step 1: Read the Abstract 

Step 2: Skip to the end of the article and read the discussion or conclusion

Step 3:  If you've gotten this far and you're still interested, make sure the article is saved somewhere so that you can do a close read of it. The library website and databases all have tools with options to save/email/cite/link (download availability will depend on the article.) 

Step 4: Do a close read of the article.  Take a look at any charts, images, or appendices.  How do these contribute to your understanding of the article's content?  

Step 5: Look at the References. The references help you to see the context of the author(s) research.  You may also find more sources that you can use for your own research here. 

1. Highlight/underline and look up unfamiliar words
2. Highlight/underline interesting sentences or paragraphs to read more closely later
3. Write down ideas and questions while reading  

DRAFT Hand out pre-printed articles for student to read and annotate in groups 

DRAFT Group annotation? Maybe too involved for this type of session?