Chemistry Research Guide

The scope of the literature search and type of information required will depend on the requirements of the assignment.

Books provide a useful starting point for an introduction to the subject. Books generally also provide an in-depth coverage of a topic.

Journal Articles: for current research or information on a very specific topic, journal articles may be the most useful, as they are published on a regular basis. It is normally expected that you will use some journal articles in your assignment.

Free Web Publications: useful information can also be found in free web publications from government or research organizations. Any web publications should be carefully evaluated. You are also required to view the whole publication, not just the abstract, if using the information in your assignment.

Empirical Research is research that is based on experimentation or observation, i.e. Evidence.  Such research is often conducted to answer a specific question or to test a hypothesis (educated guess).

Research articles that consist of empirical research are written in a specific manner.   They are always divided into the following sections: title, abstract, introduction, methods, results, discussion, and references.  Each of these sections may be further divided into subsections.  One quick way to determine if you are looking at an article that consists of empirical research is to see if it has these sections.

Title – offers a brief description of the research and includes the author(s).

Abstract – is a brief but comprehensive summary of the research, usually a paragraph long. 

Introduction – this section gives background information about the research problem.  It often includes information on similar studies, explains the reason(s) for conducting the research and offers any additional information that might be needed to understand the research problem or research that is being described in the paper.  Sometimes the Introduction section isn’t titled, but it is always present.

Methods – gives a detailed description of how the research was conducted.  Some methods that could be used include surveying, experimentation and observation.  This is occasionally titled Methodology instead.

Results – the ‘answer’ to the research question.  The Results section shows, describes and analyzes the data found by the research.

Discussion – discusses the implications of the results found.  The Discussion section may also compare, contrast and discuss the data obtained to other research articles on similar topics.  It is sometimes called the Conclusion or divided into a ‘Discussion’ section and a ‘Conclusion’ section.

References – is a list of citations for other books, journal articles, reports or studies mentioned in the article. Sometimes called Works Cited or Bibliography.

 Various phrases or keywords can identify articles that use empirical or qualitative research.  These include: