Political Science 302: Writing in Political Science

What are the parts of a typical article reporting empirical research? Research articles in many disciplines, such as the natural and social sciences, are often arranged into these sections, although these exact headers may not be used:

• Abstract

• Introduction - Introduces the problem, provides background including review of relevant literature, states hypotheses, and maybe why this study is needed (Why is this important?)

• Methods or Methodology - Defines the subjects, procedures, etc. well enough for evaluation and replication by others (What was done?)

• Results or Findings - Summarizes data and statistical test(s) well enough to support conclusions (What was found?)

• Discussion - Evaluates and interprets results, especially pertaining to the hypotheses, and may suggest future research or implications for policy or practice (What does it mean?)

• References

Scholarly articles often have different sections with headings. The literature review usually appears in the introduction. See more about the segments used in many scholarly articles that publish research results in: "What's a research article?" When considering whether an article is useful for your research, it may be efficient to first look at certain segments.

Start by using the article title and abstract to decide whether to keep reading. Then skip to the findings and discussion. If it's still relevant, read the entire article critically. There's a tutorial on this from another University: