7th Edition
Research Article Activity
This activity helps students find, cite, analyze, and summarize a scholarly research article. For each step
of the activity, type your responses directly into the text fields provided, or copy the questions into your
preferred word-processing program and answer them there. Complete this activity multiple times to
help you write papers such as literature reviews.
Notes for each part indicate where to find more information in the seventh edition of the Publication
Manual of the American Psychological Association, Seventh Edition or on the APA Style website.
Step 1: Finding a Research Article
The best place to find a reliable research article is in a peer-reviewed scholarly journal accessed from a
research database or platform, such as APA PsycNet, ProQuest, OvidSP, or EBSCOhost. Check with your
university library to see which platforms and databases your school has access to and which ones are
recommended for your subject area. APA journals are a good starting point for students of psychology.
Many types of research articles are published in scholarly journals, including quantitative, qualitative, and
mixed methods studies. In general, research articles have the following characteristics:
• report original, or primary, research
• include distinct sections that reflect the stages of the research process, usually the following
sections in the following order:
°
Introduction: description of the purpose of the investigation and the issues being reported,
review of the background literature, and study objectives and/or hypotheses
°
Method: full description of each step of the study, including the participants involved,
materials used, procedures followed, and research design
°
Results (quantitative article): report of the results of statistical analyses conducted
°
Findings (qualitative article): report of the findings using natural language
°
Discussion: summary and interpretation of the study, strengths and limitations, implications of
the results or findings, and next steps
Consult Chapters 1 and 3 of the Publication Manual for further description of research articles and the
sections often included in them, respectively.