Finding a Research Article

Use these definitions of article sections to find an article you know is research.

Finding a research article to review can be a challenge.  There are many journals online with research articles that are applicable to nursing. 

Access to the library's electronic journals and IP restricted databases is available to current KUMC faculty, students, staff and eligible users.  Remote access can be attained two ways; KUMC On-Line or the KUMC proxy server.

Instructions for remote access of the library's electronic materials is now included in the Introduction to Web-based Learning module.  The instructions are at http://classes.kumc.edu/general/wbmodule/anatomy_remote_access.htm. Within the module you can get to this page through the Skill Session page and the Anatomy of a Course page.  The directions are also included into the standardized help page.

You will know you have a research article if the article has some of the sections listed below.

The typical sections of a research article are defined below.

1. The abstract is a summary of the research article.
2. The problem statement identifies the topic, explains its significance, and justifies the need for research.
3. The literature review is a purposive summary and analysis of what is known and not known about the topic.
4. The conceptual framework or theory comprises the framework/structure of the concepts of interest to be studied or the theory that explains the interrelationships among the concepts. The concepts of interest are usually the independent and dependent variables.
5. The research design is the blueprint for how the research has been conducted.
6. The data collection methods describe the systematic gathering of information relevant to the research topic (Burns & Grove, 1997).
7. The data analysis section will describe the statistical techniques used to study the concepts or variables.
8. The discussion section will consist of the researcher’s interpretation of the results of the data analysis.
9. The conclusions section contains the description of the limitations of the study; the application of the research findings to clinical practice; and the discussion of the study implications for the profession.

There are variations on the naming of the article sections.  For example, many journals require authors to use the term "methods" instead of "research design," or "procedures" instead of "data collection methods," and "implications" instead of "discussion" when identifying the sections.  Dykes Library Online Journals will have many research articles.

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