LibGuides: RHE 309S: Critical Reading &amp; Persuasive Writing / Burns: How to read scholarly articles

Yes, it is as difficult as you feel it is.

Reading scholarly articles is difficult because these are texts written by experts in a narrow field for experts in that same field.

One day you will be an expert in your particular field of study.

You will be:

Familiar with conversations that experts in a topic area are having.
Able to recognize and evaluate research methodologies commonly used in your field.
Able to evaluate the use of and relevance of evidence presented in an article to analyze as evidence in your own research.
Familiar with the jargon and the common accepted knowledge in a field.

It will remain difficult to master reading these articles outside of your discipline or field of study, but I have some advice.

At about the 7 min mark, the video talks about a strategy for skimming.

SAGE Research Methods This link opens in a new window
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A research methods tool created to help researchers, faculty and students with their research projects. Contains content from over 720 books, dictionaries, encyclopedias, and handbooks, the entire “Little Green Book,” and ""Little Blue Book” series, two Major Works collating a selection of journal articles, and specially commissioned videos. Researchers can explore methods and concepts to help them design research projects, understand particular methods or identify a new method, conduct their research, and write up their findings. Since Sage Research Methods focuses on methodology rather than disciplines, it can be used across the social sciences, health sciences, and more.
For Tips and Tutorials, please see the Sage Research Methods Tutorials page and the Sage Research Methods LibGuide.