13.4.7: Scholarly Articles as Sources

Articles in scholarly journals are valued for several reasons. First, they are usually trustworthy because their publication process includes a peer review that helps insure their accuracy and contribution to their disciplines. In addition, they often contain the first reports of new research, which makes their sections on methodology, data, analysis, and interpretation primary sources. Sometimes they instead consist of literature reviews summaries of multiple research studies done in the past on particular subjects of current interest. That makes those articles very helpful secondary sources.

---

Peer-Reviewed Sources

The most-respected scholarly journals are peer-reviewed, which means that experts in their field other than the author and editor check out each article before it can be published. It’s their responsibility to help guarantee that new material is presented in the context of what is already known, that the methods the researcher used are the right ones, and that the article contributes to the field.

For those reasons, peer-reviewed articles are more likely to be credible. Peer-reviewed journal articles are the official scholarly record, which means that if it’s an important development in research, it will probably turn up in a journal article eventually.

Here‘s a longer explanation of the peer review process, which concludes that it is good but not perfect.

---

Parts of a Scholarly Article

The articles you use for your assignments must also be relevant to your research question—not just credible. Reading specific parts of an article can help save you time as you decide whether an article is relevant.

Movie: Guided Tour of Scholarly Articles

[iframe src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/videos...USJdeJjaWG6Dht” width=”560″ height=”315″ allowfullscreen=”allowfullscreen”]

Playlist

Guided Tour of a Scholarly Journal Article

Guided Tour of a Scholarly Journal Article - Art Article

Guided Tour of a Scholarly Journal Article - Medicine Article

Guided Tour of a Scholarly Journal Article - Psychology Article

Reading a scholarly article usually takes some effort. Here’s how to do it.

Activity: Parts of a Scholarly Article

Open activity in a web browser.

---

Finding Scholarly Articles

Most scholarly articles are housed in specialized databases. Libraries (public, school, or company) often provide access to scholarly databases by paying a subscription fee for patrons. For instance, OSU Libraries provide access to hundreds of databases via its Research Databases List that are made available free to people affiliated with the University. You can search for a journal title in these databases or view a list of databases by subject. For more information, including how to search databases, see Specialized Databases.

Databases that aren’t subject-specific are called general databases. Google Scholar is a free general scholarly database available to all who have access to the Internet, and it provides some scholarly articles. For more information, see our section on using Google Scholar.

Tip: Known Article Searching

What if you have a citation for an article you need and now have to find the actual text of the article? Follow these instructions to Access to a Known Journal Article.

---

The following section is from Michael Schwartz Library’s A Guide to Rhetoric, Chapter 10

Reading Academic Sources

Academic Sources are texts that may express the ideas, views, arguments, research, etc. of others. While sources can be utilized in a variety of ways, they should be carefully selected and integrated into a text using the appropriate documentation style guidelines. A source should always be cited. “>sources (also called Scholarly is often used to signify academic, serious work. So a "Scholarly" source is an article, book or journal that is written by someone with a PhD or other terminal degree to other experts in that field. These scholarly sources are not written to make money or to entertain, as popular sources often are. Scholarly sources are meant to convey research findings and knowledge that the author has come to through his or her studies.

“>scholarly sources) are different from what most of us read each day. We are constantly exposed to “popular” media – news websites, TV channels, magazines and newspapers. It is generally only in college that we get exposure and access to scholarly articles and books.

An Academic Source (Scholarly Source) is material that is

• Authoritative: The article has been produced by an expert in his or her field (often this means that a person has a Ph.D. in his or her field and/or works as researcher or professor at colleges or universities), and therefore has the authority that expertise affords.
• Peer-reviewed: The article has been rigorously read and reviewed by other experts or authorities in that same field. and, only after that rigorous review,
• Published in a Scholarly Research Journal: Academic articles are often published in special journals that focus on one academic discipline or one Often paragraphs focus on sub-topics, or more specific examples of the topic. For instance, the focus of an essay might be higher education, one topic discussed within it is marketing higher education, and a supportive sub-topic might be the use of social media to attract students.”>topic of study. These articles are published for an audience who is also highly involved in that academic discipline (often other people who have Ph.D.s in the same field or are pursuing studies within it). While in recent years some freely accessible open source peer reviewed journals have begun publishing, most scholarly research journals require a paid subscription. As a college student, you have access to many academic articles because your university pays for access to academic research databases that give students and faculty members access to these scholarly research journals.

Academic articles tend to more challenging to read than popular Sources are texts that may express the ideas, views, arguments, research, etc. of others. While sources can be utilized in a variety of ways, they should be carefully selected and integrated into a text using the appropriate documentation style guidelines. A source should always be cited. “>sources. They often contain academic jargon, highly specialized vocabulary that is used within a particular academic field. They tend to be longer than a typical Popular in this sense does not mean likable. Instead, when we say "popular source" the popular means "for the people". Popular sources are magazine, newspaper or website articles that are written for an audience of every day people. Sources that are scholarly are written for highly educated experts who are specialists within their field.

“>popular source article in a newspaper or magazine. They may contain many in-refer to the written word: “Proofread your text before submitting the paper.”
A text refers to any form of communication, primarily written or oral, that forms a coherent unit, often as an object of study. A book can be a text, and a speech can be a text, but television commercials, magazine ads, website, and emails can also be texts: “Dieting advertisements formed one of the textswe studied in my Sociology class.”“>text citations, diagrams, tables, or other visual representations of data.

While academic articles can be intimidating to read, there are strategies that you can use to effectively engage these challenging texts, as Karen Rosenberg discusses in her essay, “Reading Games: Strategies for Reading Scholarly Sources.”

Moreover, there are ways in which academic articles can be critiqued and evaluated just like popular articles.

Considerations for Evaluating Academic Sources

While academic Sources are texts that may express the ideas, views, arguments, research, etc. of others. While sources can be utilized in a variety of ways, they should be carefully selected and integrated into a text using the appropriate documentation style guidelines. A source should always be cited. “>sources are often deemed credible because they come out of a rigorous process of In class peer review means you, and other students in your class, providing feedback to your fellow students on their drafts of various papers.

Peer review as it relates to scholarly sources is something different. Scholarly peer review is part of the process of scholarly publication. When a scholar who has conducted his or her own research wants to convey that research in a published paper, he or she must first submit a draft of the paper to several other experts (people with PhDs) in that same field. Those peer reviewers are looking to see that the research question, the literature review, the study’s methodology and the author’s conclusions are sound and reasonable. If so, the peer reviewers will approve the paper for publication.

“>peer review-before-publication and are written both by and for the academic community, we should still take time to examine and evaluate such Sources are texts that may express the ideas, views, arguments, research, etc. of others. While sources can be utilized in a variety of ways, they should be carefully selected and integrated into a text using the appropriate documentation style guidelines. A source should always be cited. “>sources before we use them. Yes, even Scholarly is often used to signify academic, serious work. So a "Scholarly" source is an article, book or journal that is written by someone with a PhD or other terminal degree to other experts in that field. These scholarly sources are not written to make money or to entertain, as popular sources often are. Scholarly sources are meant to convey research findings and knowledge that the author has come to through his or her studies.

“>scholarly sources contain embedded biases.

Author

How prolific is the author in his or her field? Has he or she written extensively on the Often paragraphs focus on sub-topics, or more specific examples of the topic. For instance, the focus of an essay might be higher education, one topic discussed within it is marketing higher education, and a supportive sub-topic might be the use of social media to attract students.”>topic that is addressed in this paper? Often you can check the Works Cited to see if the author has any previous publications on the Often paragraphs focus on sub-topics, or more specific examples of the topic. For instance, the focus of an essay might be higher education, one topic discussed within it is marketing higher education, and a supportive sub-topic might be the use of social media to attract students.”>topic addressed in the current paper. If so, that could be an indication of the author’s long term commitment to this research Often paragraphs focus on sub-topics, or more specific examples of the topic. For instance, the focus of an essay might be higher education, one topic discussed within it is marketing higher education, and a supportive sub-topic might be the use of social media to attract students.”>topic or question.

Length of the Article

Sometimes articles will be labeled in academic databases as “scholarly articles” even though they are only a couple of pages long. If your article seems rather short and does not follow the general structure of an academic article (Abstract, Literature Review, Methodology, Results, Discussion, Conclusions, List of Works Cited), then you should spend time considering whether or not the article is a relevant or credible source for the purposes of your assignment? Is there a more thorough or detailed source that you could use?

Date of Publication

How current is the article? If you are looking for a historical perspective on your Often paragraphs focus on sub-topics, or more specific examples of the topic. For instance, the focus of an essay might be higher education, one topic discussed within it is marketing higher education, and a supportive sub-topic might be the use of social media to attract students.”>topic, then an older article may be useful. But if you need current information and your article is 10 or 15 years old, is it as relevant and useful for your assignment?

Relevance

Perhaps you have a wonderful academic article that is authoritative, credible, interesting, full of credible and compelling research. But if the article is not answering your research question or the assignment question in any meaningful way, perhaps the source is not relevant to you. Just because a source is “good” does not mean that it is good for your particular assignment.

Joe Moxley’s article “Questions to Evaluate the Authority of the Researcher’s Methods,” is an excellent resource for thinking about how to approach a critique of scholarly work. His article can be found by clicking on the hyperlink above and by going to directly to the Writing Commons website.