ENG 101 Argumentative Essay Research

It's important to remember that many people struggle to read academic articles, including graduate students, scholars, and maybe even some of your professors! Reading scholarly and academic texts is quite different from most types of reading because they are typically written by experts in their field for an audience of other experts. Because of this, it is common for scholarly research to use a lot of academic language and jargon that may be unfamiliar or overwhelming. However, don't let this get you down; we have some quick tips for you to keep in mind to make this type of reading easier!

• Remember that it is normal and often necessary to look up words or phrases that you don't know.
• If an article has one, read the abstract first to see if it seems relevant to your topic; an abstract is a short summary of what the entire article is about and is a good clue if it is worth reading the entire article.
• The first time you read an article, read the introduction, literature review, findings, discussion, and conclusions first if the article includes these sections.
• If you read the first few pages of an article and do not understand anything at all, it is most likely not going to be an article that works for your needs. However, don't let that get you down! Look for other articles and if you are still stuck, ask a librarian for help or schedule a research and reference tutoring appointment with a librarian.
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How to Read a Journal Article in 10 Minutes or Less (11:50)

This video from longtime writing and communications professor David Taylor discusses a number of tips to quickly and easily read a journal article. Most importantly, his strategies will also help you understand the article better as well!

This video, created by NC State University Libraries and licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 US, shares what citations are and why we use them in academic writing.