Research Article
Essays

A research article is a formal piece of academic writing that presents findings, analyzes existing literature, or argues a position grounded in evidence. In education courses, students are frequently asked to engage with research articles either by summarizing them, critiquing their methodology, or using them as the foundation for a broader argument. The exercise appears across disciplines — from healthcare policy and psychology to social issues like same-sex marriage and fast food and obesity — because learning to read and respond to scholarly sources is a transferable academic skill. The wide subject range reflects how central research literacy is to undergraduate and graduate study alike.

The papers archived under this topic take several distinct approaches. Some focus on summarizing and evaluating a specific article's argument, methodology, and conclusions, as seen in work addressing gun control attitudes, depression, and AIDS and HIV. Others use a research article as a launching point for persuasive writing, particularly on issues like fast food and obesity or social media's impact. A smaller group addresses professional or pedagogical practice, examining topics such as instructional planning procedures, teaching writing to English as a second language high schoolers, and team-based organizational learning.

A strong essay in this category begins with a clearly scoped thesis that goes beyond summary — identifying what the source argues, how it supports that argument, and what its limitations are regarding population, methodology, or scope. Evidence drawn directly from the article, including the author's own claims and data, carries the most weight. The most common pitfall is treating summary as analysis; restating what an article says is not the same as evaluating whether its conclusions are well-supported.