Skipping around is encouraged when reading a scholarly article.
Skimming these sections first will allow you to quickly determine if the article is relevant to your research and if you should do an in-depth reading.
Bonus: Check out this blog post, "How to Read and Understand a Scientific Paper: A Guide for Non-Scientists," from Dr. Jennifer Raff at the U of Kansas. There are aspects of her approach which are different from those listed above.
Read the abstract first
The abstract previews the entire article, makes it easier to judge whether it is relevant.
Titles can only tell you so much about the content of the article. The Abstract acts as a preview for the entire article, including the methods and results. By reading the Abstract first, you can get a better idea of what the article is actually about, if it relates to what you are researching, and whether it is worth your time to read the rest of it.
Next, read the intro and the conclusion
Learn more about the topic of study and what the authors learned through their research.
Take a look at results, i.e. tables, charts, graphs or images
Get a better idea of the results of the research or analytical study.
Closely look at the visual representations of the data. See what conclusions you come to and make note of them. When you read through the entire article, compare your own conclusions to what the authors saw in their results and data
Do an in-depth reading
Now that you have pre-read some of the article and are sure it relates to your research topic, do an in-depth reading.
Read the article from start to finish.
University of Dubuque Library, Reading Resources: Reading Scholarly Articles
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