ENGL 01C Mattos

Knowing the different sections usually present in scholarly books can help you use books for research more efficiently. 

Anatomy of a Book

The list below describes the common components of scholarly books, though not every section may be represented.

• Title page
  • provides the publication information you need to properly cite the book, such as the complete title (sometimes, book have subtitles), names of all authors or editors, edition of the book if there is more than one, name of the publisher, city of publication, & date of publication
• Table of contents
  • provides a list of the chapters with the corresponding page numbers
  • may give a general idea of the topics covered in the book, as well as a sense of how the book is arranged (e.g., chronologically)
• List of illustrations
  • provides a list of photographs, drawings, tables, or other types of illustrations used to support the contents of the book, usually with corresponding page numbers
• Preface, forward, or introduction
  • provides the reader with the author's intention or purpose for writing the book, as well as a sense of the kind of research that was used to produce the book
• Bibliography, references list, etc.
  • a list of sources that were used to create the book or a list of additional sources on the topic
  • may be located at the ends of chapters throughout the book, or at the end of the book
• Index
  • located at the back of the book, the index is an alphabetical list of the specific subjects in the book, along with the corresponding page numbers
  • may provide names, dates, events, geographic locations, and other terms related to the contents of the book
  • browsing an index is an excellent way to identify exactly where in the book relevant information may be located
  • can also provide subject terms and keywords that might be useful for further research on a topic.

Watch the Video

"How to Read a Book for Research" (2:29) is by RIT Libraries

Anatomy: Social Sciences and Sciences

The list below describes the components of scholarly journal articles in the Sciences and Social Sciences. The majority of articles in these disciplines will have the sections listed below.

• Abstract: brief summary of the article, including research question, methodology and results.
• Introduction: background information about the topic, leading up to why this study is being done, and may include a brief literature review.
• Methods: description of how the study procedures, set-up and how data was collected.
• Results/Findings: presentation of the data from the study; this section often includes tables, charts, or other visualizations of the data.
• Discussion: analysis of the data and how the study relates to existing knowledge of the topic; the authors evaluate whether their results answer their research question. 
• Conclusion: the authors wrap up the article by discussion how their study contributes to the research on this topic and outline future  potential research questions or studies. 
• References: list of resources that the authors consulted when developing their research and subsequently cited in their article.

Example

•  "Cognitive and Noncognitive Predictors of Success" in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a peer-reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) 

Anatomy: Arts and Humanities

Scholarly journal articles in the Arts and Humanities are set up differently than in the Sciences and Social Sciences. Articles may read more like essays, rather than reports on scientific experiments. In the humanities, scholars are not conducting experiments on participants but rather are making logical arguments based on the evidence they have researched and analyzed.

In literature, for example, a scholar may be studying a particular novel of an author. In history, a scholar may look at the primary source documents from the time period they are studying.

The following sections are generally included in humanities scholarly articles, although they may not be clearly marked or labeled. 

• Abstract: a summary of the research provided at the beginning of the article, although sometimes articles do not have an abstract. 
• Introduction: provides background information for the topic being studied; the article's thesis will be found in the introduction, and may also include a brief literature review.
• Discussion/Conclusion: the discussion likely runs through the entire article and is the main component of the article providing analysis, criticism, etc.; the conclusion wraps up the article; both sections usually are not labeled. 
• References: list of resources that the authors consulted when developing their research and subsequently cited in their article.

Example

• "The Pervasive Whiteness of Children's Literature: Collective Harms and Consumer Obligations" in the peer-reviewed journal Social Theory and Practice

Watch the Video

"How to Quickly Scan and Evaluate a Scholarly Article" (3:12) by QVCC Library is  licensed under CC BY 3.0