You won’t spoil the ending! Reading the conclusion is your best bet for making a quick determination of the relevance to your topic.
The research question will almost always be stated just prior to the Methods section, and can also be found within the abstract and/or conclusion.
Is it relevant to your context? Does it discuss themes that you have already identified in other studies? Does it introduce new themes not previously considered?
If yes, include for appraisal
If no, discard and find others (if necessary)
If maybe, review the abstract and conclusion again, perhaps keep in a “maybe” folder and evaluate again once you have completed your review
Now that you have scanned your search results and have amassed those that are relevant to your context and needs, you can settle in to do what we call critical reading. This is where you must plan to read the entire article thoroughly.
Critical reading encourages the reader to think about how an article or argument is constructed, not just what it says or what the study found. Here are some questions to ask yourself when reading: