What question, method and headline finding does the article claim?
Reading a Journal Article
Visual reading guide
Read the article in passes.
You do not always need to begin at the first sentence and move straight to the references. Let your purpose guide the depth of each pass.
What problem and gap motivate the study?
How was evidence collected and analysed? Is the design suitable?
What did the study find, before interpretation?
How do the authors explain the findings and limitations?
Which earlier sources could extend your search?
Three questions to keep beside you
What is the authors’ central claim? What evidence supports it? What can this study not establish?