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You love to read research articles, right? 

 What?  You find them long and boring? 
 

 You might find it helpful to know about the parts of an article so you are better able to read critically for the key elements in the research process.  A critical reader will be an active reader.  Pretend you are having a conversation with the author or authors.  Look for assumptions in the article.  Ask questions.  Use common sense!

 Knowing a little about the structure of a research article might help you read critically and efficiently.  Read with a highlighter and a pencil in your hand.  Highlight the parts of the research process.  Make notes in the margin if something raises questions for you.

Parts of an Article

 The title of the article should tell you what the article will be about.  It should give you a sense of the “essence” of the study to be reported.  Many times a title will even identify the key variables.  Some titles are very long; this is done to give the reader more information about the article’s contents.

 Look at who wrote the article!  Sometimes the reader can get a better understanding of the players in the research project.  (This method is not “iron-clad” but it does help paint a picture for the reader.)

Many research journals allow the authors to include everyone who was part of the research project in the list of authors.  Look for the first two or three names listed.  Check their credentials and affiliation.  An article written about nursing care of newborn babies in intensive care should have a key player that clearly has pediatric or neonatal expertise.  Look for a doctorally prepared individual, especially a nurse, to be involved in the project too.  That helps the reader to know that the individual had a strong background in research methods. 

 Look for nurses as part of the list of authors.  Are they listed in the first several names, or tacked on at the end.  This helps the reader determine the degree of involvement that the individual nurse or nurses had in the writing of the report and the project itself.  Having a nurse in the list of authors DOES NOT mean that the article describes nursing research project. 

The Abstract

 The abstract is a paragraph that provides a brief overview.  It will give you a summary of the pertinent aspects of the study.  The abstract should include the purpose, questions or hypothesis of the study, the key variables, a description of the sample, and overview of the data collection, a brief description of the analysis procedures and a summary of the significant findings.  If you don’t have time to do anything else, READ THE ABSTRACT.
 
The Introduction

  The introduction of an article provides a brief description of the problem addressed by the study.  A review of PERTINENT literature will be found here.  In some journals, the theoretical or conceptual framework is described in the introduction section.  In other journals, the framework may be isolated in its own section.  The introduction contains the statement of purpose.  In addition, any hypothesis (or hypotheses) and/or research questions are found in the introduction.

Methods
 
 The methods section contains a detailed description of the methodology of the study.  This includes a discussion of the specific characteristics of the sample, the type of research design, the materials or instruments used for data collection and procedures that were followed to carry out the study. The reliability and validity of any instruments used will be described in this section.  Analysis of the data is described here too.  This section seems like the “recipe”.  It provides the directions that were followed. 

Results

 The results section tells the reader what was found in the study.  Here the author presents a factual summary of the differences between the groups.

Discussion

 In some journals, the interpretation of the results and what they really mean to us is described in the discussion section.  Other journals allow the discussion to occur as part of the “results”.  This section usually concludes with implications and recommendations for further research, although some journals may separate this out with its own heading.

 
 Nursing practice should be guided by nursing research.  A consumer of research needs to be a critical reader of the research.