McLean High School Library Website: Reading for Research

Reading for Research

When reading scholarly journal articles (in databases or websites):

1. first read the abstract (if available)

2. read headings (generally bolded or italics, if available)

3. then read first paragraph

4. read the last paragraph if the article is a good match,

5. then read the first sentence of each paragraph

6. then, read and take notes of the whole journal article

Reminder, you can stop reading the journal article at any point, if the article doesn't match your research needs  

Tips for Reading Scholarly Articles