"Empirical research is research that is based on observation and measurement of phenomena, as directly experienced by the researcher. The data thus gathered may be compared against a theory or hypothesis, but the results are still based on real life experience. The data gathered is all primary data, although secondary data from a literature review may form the theoretical background."

From Emerald Publishing's guide to conducting empirical research.

How to read a scholarly article 

Different disciplines have different writing conventions. The social sciences (sociology, education, etc...) and the humanities (literature, philosophy, etc...) writing styles rely on a combination of

• established and subjective information 
• new, original information from the author(s)

Both structures typically include

• summary
• introduction
• context
• approach
• discussion/analysis
• conclusion

Differences can typically be found in

• the abstract  (included or not)
• methodological versus theoretical approach
• citation style (APA versus MLA)

When reading and referring to  an article 

• start with the abstract, introduction and conclusion to get an over all sense of the content. 
• paraphrase from the objective sections
• cite directly from the subjective sections