Snake in a study, and article about it (8)
I believe the answer is:
anaconda
'snake' is the definition.
(anaconda is a kind of snake)
'a study and article about it' is the wordplay.
'study' becomes 'con' (I've seen this before).
'article' becomes 'a' (indefinite article).
'about it' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'and'+'a'='anda'
'a'+'con'='acon'
'acon' put into 'anda' is 'ANACONDA'.
'in' is the link.
(Other definitions for anaconda that I've seen before include "The largest snake" , "Large semiaquatic snake" , "large reptile" , "It can constrict" , "Large South America snake" .)