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Sociology ICRA Guide

Identifying Components in Research Articles

Welcome to the guide for Identifying Components in Research Articles. 

For information on how to create an ASA Style Citation, see Snowden Library's Citation Station. 

Definitions

The following are important concepts to understand as you locate sources and work on your reports: 

  • Scholarly Journal Articles: These sources are written by experts in their field to communicate research and findings with other scholars and students studying that subject. Scholarly journal articles often use more technical and/or subject-specific language, so it is good practice to first build an understanding of your topic through reference resources and books before reading. 
  • Empirical Research: Research that is based on observation or measured phenomena. Data and/or knowledge are derived from experience rather than theory or belief.
  • Peer-Review: Also known as refereed, this is the process of submitting an article for publication through an external review of other subject experts that evaluates the quality of scholarship and validity of the methodology and procedures.

Two Types of Research

Locating Scholarly Journal Articles

Components of a Research Article

Develop skills to better understand what is included in effective research. Find a peer-reviewed article from a sociological journal using the SocINDEX database and answer the following questions, depending on the type of reseach:

Quantitative Research Qualitative Research
1. Article Title 1. Article Title
2. Author's Name(s) 2. Author's Name(s)
3. Journal Name 3. Journal Name
4. Article Citation using ASA Format 4. Article Citation using ASA Format
5. Research Question 5. Research Question
6.  Specific theory used in the research 6. Specific theory used in the research
7. Methodology 7. Methodology
8. Study Sample 8. Study Sample
9. Dependent variable and how it is defined 9. At least one theme discovered
10. Independent variable and how it is defined (not a control variable) 10. At least one conclusion of the research
11. Statistical analysis utilized 11. Limitation as stated by the author(s)
12. At least one result of the research 12. Recommendation for future research as stated by the author(s)
13. Limitation as stated by the author(s)  
14. Recommendation for future research as stated by the author(s)