Types of scholarly articles

There are a few different types of scholarly articles:

Original research
Brief communications
Review articles
Case studies
Methods / methodologies
Humanities articles

Most of these article types are structured in the same way; check out the structure of a scholarly article page for more information about this common structure.

Original research

Most common type of scholarly article
Often used in social sciences (education, psychology, etc.) & sciences (chemistry, meteorology, etc.)

Typically includes introduction, literature review, methodology, results, and conclusion

Example: Sogunro, O.A. (2015). Motivating factors for adult learners in higher education. International Journal of Higher Education, 4(1), 22-37. Retrieved from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1060548.pdf

Review Articles

A.K.A. literature reviews, systematic reviews, or meta-analyses

Provide a summary of original research on a topic
May point out limitations or gaps in existing research

May suggest future directions for research on the topic
May be organized thematically or chronologically

Example: Mercer-Mapstone, L., Dvorakova, S. L., Matthews, K., Abbot, S., Cheng, B., Felten, P.,...Swaim, K. (2017). A systematic literature review of students as partners in higher education. International Journal for Students As Partners, 1(1). Retrieved from https://mulpress.mcmaster.ca/ijsap/article/view/3119

Brief communications

A.K.A. letters, reports

They're like movie trailers for original academic research
Provide a quick preview of original research
Useful in competitive subject areas (ex. scientists competing for funding)

Useful in quickly changing subject areas (ex. medicine)
Usually formatted like original research articles (introduction, literature review, etc.)

Example: Yuan, C., Wei, G., Dey, L., Karrison, T., Nahlik, L., Maleckar, S., ...Moss, J. (2004). American ginseng reduces warfarin’s effect in healthy patients: A randomized, controlled trial. Annals of Internal Medicine, 141(1), 23-27. Retrieved from http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.696.5919&rep=rep1&type=pdf

Case studies

Report on a specific case or instance of something
Can refer to a thing (ex. a rare medical condition), a place (ex. a specific river), or a group of people (ex. nurses)

Purpose is not to generalize, but to let others know similar things (ex. medical condition, river pollution, job stress) may occur elsewhere
Often formatted like original research articles (introduction, literature review, etc.)

Example: Bansal, P., & Kockelman, K. M. (2018). Are we ready to embrace connected and self-driving vehicles? A case study of Texans. Transportation, 45(2), 641-675. Retrieved from http://www.caee.utexas.edu/prof/kockelman/public_html/TRB17TxOpinionsCAVs.pdf

Methods / methodologies

Scholarly article focused on new methods, tests, or other measure
May be a new method or a revision of an existing one; should be an improvement over existing methods

Usually formatted like original research articles (introduction, literature review, etc.)

Example: Hurtado, J.C., Mosquera, M.M., de Lazzari, E., Martínez, E., Torner, N., Isanta, R.,...Estape, J.V. (2015). Evaluation of a new, rapid, simple test for the detection of influenza virus. BMC Infectious Diseases, 15(44), 1-4. Retrieved from https://bmcinfectdis.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12879-015-0775-5

Humanities articles

Includes subjects like English, philosophy, history, and the arts (fine art, theatre, music, etc.)
Often begins with an introduction that contains the thesis and a brief overview of the arguments that will be presented
Literature and history articles often examine primary sources (though they approach them in different ways)

Philosophy articles focus on ideas and arguments
Articles in these areas tend to have a more narrative structure (they're telling a story)
May have some features of other article types (esp. abstracts and references)

Example: Fazel, V., & Geddes, L. (2016). "Give me your hands if we be friends": collaborative authority in Shakespeare fan fiction. Shakespeare, 12(3), 274-286. Retrieved from https://hcommons.org/deposits/item/mla:673/