A scientific (academic or scholarly) article describes a researcher's results. The target readership is other academics. The article should be edited and proofed by experts from the same field of study before publication (a so-called peer review).
Scientific articles vary in type. There are, for example, original articles, survey articles, and theoretical articles.
An original article describes results of a piece of research, whereas a theoretical article aims to develop new theories from existing research. A survey article comprises critical evaluations of previously published studies.
For an article to be considered a scientific article, it should include the following:
- Abstract
An abstract is a short summary of the whole article. It should describe the purpose, method, questions, results, and conclusions. - Introduction
A background description of the problem, the purpose, questions, and limitations of the study are presented. - Methodology/Material
A description of the methodology and material used by the researcher should be provided. The description should be adequately detailed so that another researcher can repeat the research process and so that the reliability and credibility of the study can be determined. - Results
The results of the study are presented and may include interviews, diagrams, tables, and figures. - Discussion/Conclusions
In this part, results are interpreted and evaluated. There is discussion about the choice of method as well as the way in which results compare with and relate to previous research in the field, as well as the conclusions that the research has arrived at. - References/Sources
All documents, books and electronic sources that were used shall be provided in a reference list.
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