Research articles will generally have some version of the following headings. However, it is important to remember that not all research articles will have all of the headings listed, and they may contain some headings not listed below. Therefore, the following information should be used as a guideline when looking for research articles. Here's what to look for:
- Title
- Abstract – helps to determine relevance of article to the reader’s interests.
- Introduction/literature review
- Purpose of the study/hypothesis/problem statement
- Methodology/procedures/research design
- Major findings/results/analysis/discussion
- Summary/conclusion/ideas for future studies/implications
- Works cited/references/acknowledgements
- Notes
- Appendices
- Tables, charts, figures, statistical data (throughout the article)
