Types of Sources: Is this source scholarly?

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How do you know if a book is academic or scholarly?

The best way to tell is to look at who publishes it. If it's published by a university press (e.g. Chicago, Harvard, etc.) or by several other academic presses (e.g., Blackwell, Routledge, Palgrave, Ashgate) it is scholarly. There are other presses that publish scholarly books as well, depending on the discipline. Another way to decide is to look at the book's intended audience and purpose.

Look for the Publisher's name listed in Library Catalog or in the ebook.

What is the difference between scholarly books and regular books?

Popular books are published with the intent of making a profit, whereas scholarly books are published regardless of whether or not they will make money. Scholarly books are produced to contribute to knowledge, and they support the research of academics, scholars, and students.

How does a scholarly book get published?

The publishing process begins when either editors of publishing houses reach out to scholars or scholars submit manuscripts to editors. Editors make the connection with scholars, but they don't make the final decision. Instead, all scholarly books go through an extensive peer review process in which experts in the field read the manuscripts and decide if the book is reliable, credible, and worthy of being published.

Look for the following features to help you identify a scholarly or academic book.

• The topic is often very narrow and intended for a specific audience with similar research interests.
• The text always includes cited references in-text, as footnotes, or at the end as a bibliography or reference list..
• They often include extensive literature reviews of existing research.

What is a scholarly article?

The purpose of scholarship is to expand human knowledge. Scholars conduct research in their fields in order to add to or clarify what is already known about a particular topic. They then publish their research findings in peer-reviewed journals. Once published the article adds value, context, and perspective to the existing literature on the topic in order to build upon the world's collective knowledge.

What is peer-review?

Peer-review is a term that refers to a process that determines the quality of scholarship. Scholars submit their research articles to peer-reviewed journals. The editors of the journals forward the articles to several "peers" (other scholars in the field) to review. The peers look at what (the results), how (the research methods), and why (the topic) the scholar researched the topic in order to determine if the article should be added to the literature of knowledge in the field. This process ensures that published research is accurate, valid, and reliable.

The terms peer-reviewed, scholarly, academic, and research are often used interchangeably to refer to all articles that have undergone this quality review.

How can you tell if an article is scholarly?

Evaluate the following features of the article. If it meets ALL of these criteria then it is considered scholarly.

1. Authors of scholarly articles are researchers, academics, and scholars within the field. The article should not only identify the author, but also the college, university, or research organization with which the author is associated.
2. Publishers of peer-reviewed journals in which scholarly articles are published are universities, research institutes, scholarly presses and professional organizations. If you are unsure, Google the publisher's name and see what type of material they publish.
3. Scholarly articles ALWAYS include sources. Look for footnotes, endnotes, references, or bibliographies. If there are no sources cited in the article then it is not scholarly.
4. The language used in scholarly articles generally consists of college-level writing and vocabulary. Articles are written for fellow scholars in the field and for college students and often includes vocabulary special to the given field.
5. The purpose of scholarly articles is to report original qualitative or quantitative research, case studies, or in-depth analysis of topics. The articles themselves are lengthy, and generally present information with statistics, charts, graphs, and tables. Advertisements of any kind are very rare.