*Marine Science*

Or watch the following video from the University of Minnesota on how to skim an article for the main points and take effective notes:

Reading a scholarly article can seem daunting at first. Scholarly articles are long and have a lot of data. If you break down the article into components, it will make it easier to read and understand.

For a quick overview, click on the link below to see an example of a scholarly article and its parts.

• Does the source have a bibliography? This can lead you to other sources.
• Is there an author listed as part of the citation? Judging authority can be difficult without an author.
• Is the journal refereed (peer reviewed)?
• How old is the source? Will this matter for your topic? Currency of information can be important. Some aspects of a topic may need currency more than others.
• What other terminology is being used either by the author or by the database? Keep an eye out for other words you can use in your search statements.
• Do the OSU Libraries own the journal (either in print or electronically)? If we don't own it, it will take more time to get your hands on the source.

Did you know there are free tools available to help you automatically format your bibliographies and organize all those articles, books and websites you find?

In particular, the library has specialists about the citation management tool Zotero, regular workshops about them, and help guides to get you started.

Zotero

• Workshop schedule
• Zotero guide