Scholarly Sources: Characteristics

Here are a few common characteristics of scholarly sources:

They're written by experts and scholars. The author is always named and sometimes the research institution is listed too.
They're written for other experts, scholars, and students.
They're published by scholarly presses, such as universities and colleges.
They cite their sources. You'll find a bibliography, list of references, footnotes, or works cited.
They're authoritative (i.e., can be trusted) because they're written by experts and cite their sources.
The authors use specialized language and jargon of the field.
They usually describe original research.
They usually undergo a peer review process. They're screened so that only the best research gets published.

See a chart that compares scholarly with popular sources.

Examples of Scholarly Sources:

Website: Chicago Journal of Theoretical Computer Science - http://cjtcs.cs.uchicago.edu/
Journal: Journal of Exotic Pet Medicine - available in print in the libraries
Book: Income Distribution by Fred Campano & Dominick Salvatore - available from the libraries
E-book: Street Gang Patterns and Policies by Malcolm W. Klein & Cheryl L. Maxson- available from the libraries

Library databases can make it easy to find scholarly sources -- find out how.

Follow these links for more info:

Wednesday May 27, 2009