Locating original research can be a challenge for even the most experienced researcher. But it can be done and here’s a few ways, aside from reading the article in full, that might help you identify original research as you go:
- First, you should be able to see the major subdivisions of a research article:
- Literature Review or Background
- Methods
- Results
- Conclusions
- Discussion
- Next, the article should be composed by the researchers who did the study
- Aims should be to close knowledge gaps in exisiting liteature
- There should be a clear hypothesis or research question and a broader purpose
- Research methods are clearly defined
- Results reported and interpreted by researchers
- Generates new knowledge