LibGuides: Research Process 101: Scholarly Articles

Chart Comparing Scholarly, Trade, and Popular Periodicals

	Scholarly Sources Includes academic journals and books. Usually expensive and first available in print	Trade Sources Print and online journals, magazines, newsletters, pamphlets, and reports.	Popular Sources Books, newspapers or magazines; some in print and some online.
Cover Academic sources usually have very bland covers that don't change. Trade and popular sources have much more colorful covers.
Purpose Why are they publishing?	Scholarly communication Report the results of original research In-depth analysis	Provide practical information for people working in the profession Provide trade-related news and market trends	Inform people of news, current events Entertain readers Provide local information Sell copies or ads
Authors Who is writing? Where do they work? Are they paid?	Academic experts like professors, scholars Researchers, doctors Often several authors Works for a reputable, named institution Often not paid, because publication is necessary for career advancement	Professionals in a field share ideas, news Sometimes journalists with subject knowledge Usually names the author and their employer or organization Usually paid	Journalists who work for the magazine are assigned articles Freelance authors who publish in multiple places Often a single author; sometimes no author is named, just "staff" Usually paid
Audience Who is reading?	Other professors or researchers Students or professionals NOT the general public	Professionals or researchers in that field People interested in that specific subject	Anyone! Some people want news or entertainment Some people have general interest in a topic like science, music, etc.
Language What is the writing style?	Technical language or academic jargon specific to that subject, often very hard for outsiders to understand Formal tone	Uses technical terms that are common in the profession, but easier to understand than scholarly journals Professional tone	Language is easy to read and understand Less formal, sometime casual tone
Organization How are the articles typically structured?	Often begin with a summary or abstract Charts, graphs, tables May include a literature review, methodology, or conclusion	Format can vary widely	Format can vary widely
Length How long is the article?	Long... sometimes extremely long (10 pages - 40 pages)	Short to medium (2-6 pages)	Very short to medium (1 to 6 pages)
Reliability Do they cite their sources? Can you trust them?	Extensive formal bibliography and/or footnotes Extremely accurate and reliable	Often cites some sources Instead of a bibliography, would probably use hyperlinks to sources Usually accurate and reliable	Sometimes doesn't cite any sources Instead of a bibliography, usually has hyperlinks to sources or references Sometimes accurate and reliable
Illustrations What graphics do they use?	Very few illustrations Primarily charts, graphs, or tables related to research	Some illustrations and photos relevant to article Charts, graphs or tables	Many colorful graphics and photos
Advertising Do they include advertisements?	Very few ads because subscribers purchase journals Promote new books, workshops, and conferences	Some advertising Ads are usually specifically targeted toward professional products used in that job	Lots of ads! Ads are for general consumer products - clothes, electronics, cars, food, etc.
Editors/Review Who chooses what articles to publish? Who checks them for accuracy?	Authors submit articles Peer-Review: Editors send articles to multiple other scholars (peers) in the same field to evaluate the quality and accuracy of the article before publishing it.	Sometimes authors submit articles, sometimes editors will assign them to staff writers or find freelance authors Editors might check articles for accuracy	Editors assign articles to staff writers or find freelance authors Editors might check articles for accuracy
Frequency How often is it published?	Every month, every quarter (4 times a year) or once a year	Every week, two weeks, or once a month	Daily, weekly, or monthly
Examples What words are commonly used in the titles of each type of publication?	The Classical Quarterly Educational Research Feminist Media Studies Foreign Trade Review The Lancet Medieval History Journal	American Cattlemen Dental Economics Education Week History Today Psychology Today School Library Journal	Discover The Nashville Scene National Geographic The New York Times Rolling Stone Time

Table adapted from the Howard Community College Library in Columbia, MD.

What Makes It Scholarly?

Secondary sources are sources that describe, discuss, interpret, analyze, comment upon, evaluate, or summarize primary sources.

Scholarly articles are secondary sources. However, not all secondary sources are scholarly. You may sometimes also hear scholarly articles and peer-reviewed articles used interchangeably. That is because peer review is a critical part of what makes something "scholarly."

Scholarly articles (and books, too!) are defined by two key criteria:

It is written by a scholar in their own field.

Typically, we consider someone to be a scholar if they have achieved the highest degree in their field. In the case of history, that would be a PhD. Often, they are faculty at a college or university or other academic institution. The scholar must also be writing in the field of their expertise. An article about history by a scholar with a PhD in chemistry would not be considered scholarly.

The writing has been through the process of peer review.

Peer review is a process by which research writing (articles, books) is vetted by peers--other scholars in the field--to ensure that it is interesting, credible, and contributing to scholarship in some way. Articles that get published in scholarly journals undergo peer review and editorial review, which generally focuses on style, readability, and fit. For scholarly journals, fit is ensuring that each journal is publishing articles relevant to the journals mission or editorial scope. This helps scholars find relevant scholarship. Scholars of women's history, for example, know that the Journal of Women's History will be filled with scholarship on the history of women.

Finding Scholarly Articles

Students should utilize SES digital resources such as JSTOR & ProQuest eLibrary to locate scholarly articles.

IDENTIFYING KEYWORDS

Before you open a database and begin your search, it is useful to do some preparation. Think about your topic and which keywords might be associated with it. Then, think of possible synonyms for those keywords.

Keywords are the central concepts or ideas that you are searching for--they could be people (Calico Jack, pirates), places (the south sea, Bermuda), or things (the jolly roger, astrolabes). But, they may also be concepts or ideas (egalitarianism, mercantilism).

CONNECTING KEYWORDS

Most databases use Boolean operators rather than the natural language searching that we are familiar with from Google and other web search engines. The key difference is that databases don't deliver you great results if you use words beyond your keywords and the 3 Boolean operators, and, or, and not.

For example, rather than searching for who were the accused witches in the Salem witch trials? as you might in Google, you would want a search for Salem AND witches AND accused.

The shaded area in the diagrams below demonstrates how these simple operators work.

NARROW YOUR SEARCH

Only articles that contain both words in the text will be show.

EXPAND YOUR SEARCH

All articles that contain either words will be shown.

WEED RESULTS FROM YOUR SEARCH

Results with the first search term will be shown, but any results that contain the second word will be excluded.

How to Read a Scholarly Article

Scholarly articles usually follow a format with specific sections. Most articles, including those in the sciences, history, and English, begin with an abstract and end with references or footnotes. According to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA), 6th edition:

An abstract is the first section of an article and contains "a brief, comprehensive summary of the contents of the article" (APA Manual 25). When you're trying to decide whether an article is helpful for your research, you should read the abstract first. However, the abstract is NOT the whole article! Many scholarly articles require database access or payment to read, so if all you find free online is the abstract, please contact your librarian for help in accessing the full article. You should not cite something if you only read the abstract!
References and footnotes are the last section of an article, they tell you the author's sources and can be a goldmine of information to further your research! According to our C.A.R.P. system, these make the article "Reliable". Don't ignore this valuable section of a scholarly article!

Articles in the sciences, including the social sciences (education and psychology) include several other sections:

The introduction to a scientific article explains, "the specific problem under study and describes the research strategy," (APA Manual 27). It might discuss some of the previous studies on the same topic (called a "literature review") and should state the hypotheses, or thing they were trying to prove.
The method section will describe the research design including subjects of the study, questionnaires or other ways of gathering data, and any interventions applied. Often a criticism of a study will address problems with the method section, such as a small sample size or use of unrepresentative subjects.
The results section presents the data and analyzes its statistical significance. There might be charts and graphs involved but don't skip this section - the results are important!
The discussion is one of the most helpful sections to read because it summarizes the results and explains whether they prove the hypothesis. It should also analyze any problems or limitations to their study and suggest priorities for future research.

For more information about reading scholarly articles, view this video or read this article:
Jordan, Christian H. and Mark P. Zanna. "How to Read a Journal Article in Social Psychology." In The Self in Social Psychology, edited by Roy Baumeister. Psychology Press 1999. https://www.uvm.edu/~dguber/POLS234/articles/read.htm