- True definitions of the term scholarly source vary from
discipline to discipline and from professor to professor. Check with
your professor to be certain how they view a particular title. However,
a few simple guidelines can be applied to almost any journal to determine
if it can be considered scholarly:
- Articles in scholarly journals have either footnotes or endnotes.
These notes show the sources of information quoted by authors and can help
verify the quality of their scholarship. Notes are useful in seeing currency
of information contained in the article.
- Articles in scholarly journals usually have a bibliography at the
end. This bibliography is a list of all sources consulted in the writing
of the article. It helps to establish veracity and accurateness of information
and gives the reader places to go for further information. The bibliography
is one of the most important features of a scholarly source.
- Scholarly journals are almost always produced by a body such as
the American Historical Society or the American Association of Psychologists
or by a university, not by a company only for profit. Sometimes
one must check the journal's "masthead" (the paragraph near the
front of the journal which tells publication information) to be sure of
this.
- In most scholarly journals the word journal will appear
in the title--but not always. Most will have a title
such as American Journal of Psychology; some however can be misleading,
such as Organizational Dynamics. One must look closer to be certain.
- Many scholarly journals are refereed. This simply means
that the article was given to a number of respected scholars in its particular
field who then evaluate and certify the quality of the scholarship it contains.
A look at the masthead can help determine if a journal is refereed.
- And as a simple rule of thumb, If a magazine is printed
on glossy paper and has many pictures, photos, and advertisements, it probably
is not scholarly!
Updated
July 27, 2007
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