Nursing Research Guide

Types of Articles

There are different types of scholarly articles related to nursing, and it's good to learn the differences between them. The type of article you need will be determined by your class assignment, or your research objective.

• Original Research: Professionals conducted their own research study and collected original data.

• Review: Gives an overview of existing literature and identifies themes and gaps. These can be literature reviews, systematic reviews, or meta-analyses.

• Case Studies: Describe real patient cases.

• Clinical Trials: Research studies that explore whether a medical strategy, treatment, or device is safe and effective for humans. These studies also may show which medical approaches work best for certain illnesses or groups of people.

• Opinion & Commentary: Professional opinions about studies or practices in the field. Usually offer constructive criticism.

Parts of a Research Article

Articles that publish original research are divided into common sections, usually something like this. 

• Abstract - A short summary of the study and the conclusions made.

  • Read the Abstract first to determine if the article is relevant to your research project.

• Introduction - Discusses the problem(s) addressed in the article and gives background information.

• Literature Review - Summarizes previous studies/articles written about the same topic.

• Methodology - Describes the research design in enough detail that the experiment could be replicated.

• Results - Explanation of the data collected during the study.

• Discussion/Conclusions - Analysis of the results and thoughts on whether or not further study is needed.

• References - Sources used by the author to conduct the study or the literature review.

  • Reading the References can help you find other relevant articles for your research project.

Watch this short video for an explanation of the parts of a research article.