Articles

What are articles? What am I going to find in an article?

Articles are shorter, more concentrated works as compared to books. They are printed in journals, magazines, and other serial or periodical works, and deal with a specific topic or perhaps a specific part of a topic. They are often the result of a focused research project or an in-depth analysis of something very specific--unlike books, which tend to be broader in scope. In general, articles very clearly present the viewpoint of their author; while books tend to present a thorough objective analysis, articles are usually more biased toward the perspective of the author. Often articles are written in response to other articles, and can represent alternative opinions on the same material.

While articles are shorter than books, they can provide a more in-depth analysis of the aspect of a subject that they are covering. While a book about Beethoven’s life and music will provide a broad, comprehensive discussion of the subject, an article might be a better place to look for a consideration of the different hearing devices he used, at least until it has been analyzed so carefully that there is enough definitive material to produce a book on the subject.

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