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ENGL 110 (Mangin-Hinkley)

Research Guide for ENGL110 Spring 2024

What is a Scholarly Source?

Fro some assignments your instructor might want you to use scholarly resources for your paper or project. What is a scholarly resources and how do you recognize them?

You're probably more familiar with popular resources. These include magazines and newspapers (in either print or online form), and most websites. Most of these sources are written for general audiences and read for pleasure or general interest. Scholarly sources are typically articles written by and for professionals or scholars in a specific field. These articles are usually on specific and in-depth topics, and might require some background knowledge or understanding of a topic or discipline.

The below table highlights what makes a resources popular or scholarly.

Popular vs. Scholarly Articles
  Popular Articles Scholarly Articles
Publications Magazines, newspapers Journals, academic publications, peer-reviewed journals
Author Journalists and professional writers Scholars, faculty members, researchers, professionals in the field
Audience General public Other scholars or professionals
Visual Appearance Often include color, photos, advertisements Mostly text, but may include a few graphs or charts
Length Tend to be short Tend to be lengthy
Language Can be understood by the average reader May use professional jargon and academic language
Content Gives a broad overview of the issues of interest to the general public; rarely gives full citations for sources Covers narrow tropics related to specific fields; includes citation for many credible sources
Recommended For: Enjoyable reading material, finding topics ideas Learning about new ideas and research

Adapted from Scholarly & Popular Articles by adstarkel. Used under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

How Do I Find Scholarly Sources?

Locating scholarly resources in your searches is easier than you think:

  1. Start with the right tools. Make sure you are using recommended library databases or Google Scholar. Not all library databases are scholarly - for example, library resources such as encyclopedias and dictionaries are not scholarly sources. Most article databases have scholarly resources, and all of the library resources in this guide contain scholarly publications.
  2. Look for ways to limit your results. Most databases give the option to limit your search results to scholarly sources. Look for these words:
    • Scholarly resources
    • Scholarly journals
    • Academic sources
    • Academic journals
    • Peer-reviewed publications
  3. Evaluate the articles you find. Use the guidelines from the table on the previous tab to determine if you're looking at a scholarly resource. Two quick ways to help tell:
    • How long is the article? Most scholarly articles are longer, and likely over four pages long
    • Does it have a list of sources or references at the end? Scholarly articles will cite their sources and often have a long list of references
    • Make sure it's not a book review or a letter to the editor. Many scholarly publications include reviews of books in their discipline, as well as letters from readers within their publications. Even though these articles are published in scholarly publications they are NOT scholarly articles. Use the table above as a guide.