MUS 600: Musicology: Getting to know an article

Experienced researchers can learn a lot about their topic and improve their search results simply by paying close attention to database search results. 

Critical and reflective reading of article abstracts, in particular, can help you recognize when and how to revise your searches, map the concepts and people related to your research question, and prepare to you engage effectively with your sources. 

This activity guides you through questions you can ask yourself as you read article abstracts. 

1. Search the Proquest Research Library to find an article on your topic. 

2. Read over the abstract of the article, considering the following questions: 

• Describe the author's research question in your own words. What are they studying? 
• Does the author draw connections to other scholarship on this topic? For example, do they mention research by other authors, or some theory or conceptual model that is relevant to the topic? 
• Does the author mention a particular research method, technique, or type of evidence that will be used to answer the research question? (For example, archival research, surveys, interviews, experimental design, etc.?)
• What kind of evidence will this research method produce? How do you think the author may use that evidence to answer their research question? 
• What are you, the reader, curious about after examining the abstract?

3. Prepare to summarize your findings with the rest of the class.  

Here are some exemplary article abstracts that provide rich information for researchers.