What is a scholarly source?
Scholarly sources (also called academic, peer-reviewed, or refereed sources) are written by and for faculty, researchers, or scholars. When we use the term scholarly sources in this article, we mostly refer to scholarly, peer-reviewed journals, but scholarly sources can be anything from books to conference publications, either electronic or print-based. These sources will provide the most substantial information for your research.
Scholarly articles generally contain the following elements:
- The authors are scholars or researchers with known affiliations and credentials.
- The language used is academic and complex, and often the language of the discipline is used.
- The article contains full citations to other scholarly sources
- Scholarly articles are often peer-reviewed by specialists before being accepted for publication.
- The publisher is a scholarly press with editorial reviews to ensure the quality of the content.
- The intended audience is other faculty, researchers, or scholars.
- Learn more about how to identify a scholarly source.
If you use bibliographic databases such as PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, DOAJ, ERIC, ScienceDirect, or JSTOR you can be sure that the articles are scholarly sources right from the beginning. Some of these are subscription-based, and you will only have access if you are on a campus network. But there are also lots of academic search engines that let you find papers for free.
Pro tip: To make the most out of your database search, you can use a reference manager like Paperpile to save references and PDFs quickly and easily with one click. Paperpile integrates with thousands of publisher sites and allows you to add data directly from your browser to your library and later cite your references in Google Docs, Microsoft Word, or LaTeX.
Non-scholarly articles and popular magazines contain the following elements, but are not limited to them:
- They are written for a general audience and broad readership.
- They are opinion-based.
- The language used is non-technical.
- They are not reviewed by other specialists before publication.
- They lack references to other sources.
- Examples: primary sources, news sources, data and statistical publications, book reviews or editorials
Frequently Asked Questions about scholarly sources
🐯 How is a scholarly source defined?
Scholarly sources (also called academic, peer-reviewed, or refereed sources) are written by and for faculty, researchers, or scholars. The term scholarly sources often refers to scholarly, peer-reviewed journals, but scholarly sources can be anything from books to conference publications, either electronic or print-based. These sources will provide the most substantial information for your research.
🦊 How do I identify scholarly sources?
Scholarly sources contain the following elements:
- The authors are scholars or researchers with known affiliations and credentials.
- The language used is academic and complex.
- The article contains full citations to other scholarly sources.
- Scholarly articles are often peer-reviewed by specialists.
- The publisher is a scholarly press with editorial reviews.
- The intended audience is other faculty, researchers, or scholars.
🦁 What is a non-scholarly source?
Non-scholarly sources are written by non-academics, and they can be primary sources, news sources, data and statistical publications, book reviews, or editorials.
🐱 How do I identify a non-scholarly source?
Non-scholarly sources are written for a general audience and broad readership, are opinion based, use non-technical language, are not reviewed by other specialists before publication, and lack references to other sources.
🐈 Can I use non-scholarly sources for my paper?
Yes, you can use non-scholarly sources for your paper. Make sure to check with your supervisor first if using non-scholarly sources is allowed.
