Scholarly journal articles are written by experts (researchers or academics) in the field or discipline. They are written for an academic audience and follow a specific article format. They are usually peer-reviewed, or critically reviewed by other scholars in the field before being published.
Though the parts may vary a bit by discipline and journal, scholarly articles typically include standard components. The components are often labeled, but not always, and the label terminology can vary a bit too. Here are typical parts and terminology used:
ABSTRACT: The summary of the article located at the beginning of the article. It may or may not be labeled as the abstract.
INTRODUCTION: A short explanation and overview of the research topic or question and why the research was performed.
LITERATURE REVIEW: An overview of previously published scholarly articles related to the article's research topic.
METHOD / METHODOLOGY: An explanation of the process followed in the research.
RESULTS / FINDINGS: An accounting of what happened when the research was performed.
DISCUSSION / CONCLUSION: Analysis of the results. What do they mean? What was learned? What is the importance of the results?
REFERENCES / BIBLIOGRAPHY: Information sources (research of others) used when conducting the research and/or writing the article.
Google Scholar is an online, freely accessible search engine that lets users look for both physical and digital copies of articles.
It searches scholarly works from a variety of sources, including academic publishers and universities looking for: