Scholarly articles are difficult to understand without background information. Unless you're familiar with the field and the topic under discussion, start with a quick look at encyclopedia entries about key terms (Wikipedia can be very useful for this). Reading the introduction to a scholarly book on the subject is a great way to develop a deeper understanding and get yourself up to speed.
We also have access to lots of subject-specific encyclopedias and dictionaries that can save you time picking through irrelevant content.