Transfer student library introduction

Recognizing scholarly sources

Recognizing scholarly information sources is crucial to our success in college and can even be useful in our work life afterwards.  The first step to determining whether a source is scholarly or not is to understand what information sources are likely to be scholarly.  To be clear, these sources will usually be writings (though, some scholars are experimenting with other forms to present their findings) and the most common types are listed below.  

• Theoretical study: A piece of writing that considers fundamental assumptions about a field of knowledge and proposes changes in how researchers or people who work in the field should understand and/or conduct their work; EX. An astronomer suggests a new way to understand how star clusters form  
• Original research/empirical study: A piece of writing about research conducted in a laboratory, a clinic, in the field (a place where a particular occurrence takes place), or about a set of data or documents that either tests or refutes a hypothesis or theory; EX. An education professor conducts a study applying a specific learning theory to a particular population  
• Case studies: A piece of writing about a particular "case" or example of an interaction, expected pattern of behavior, application of a tool, etc.; EX. A psychologist writes about an unusual patient interaction that sheds light on a particular aspect of practice or as an occasion to wonder about ethics or procedures 
• Technical notes: Usually shorter pieces about specific changes of practice or equipment in a field of knowledge/practice; EX. An engineer writes about a new way to calculate stress on beams  
• Literature reviews, meta-analyses, systematic reviews of literature/research:  Studies that look at specific bodies of research in a field of knowledge or practice to identify important trends, debates, innovations, etc.; these kinds of work can be called under a number of different names, but these are the most common; EX. A law professor examines court decisions over the previous ten years to help lawyers and students understand how a particular branch of law may be changing  

These are not the only forms of scholarly writing, but the most common ones.  

A note about scholarly journals

It is also important to note that not everything in a scholarly journal is peer-reviewed.  The following are common parts of journals that are normally not peer-reviewed:   

• Editor's introductions  
• Guest editor columns  
• Letters to the editor   
• Announcements from professional organizations or universities  
• Conference reports  
• Product reviews  
• Single item book or video reviews (Some journals publish “review essays,” which are reviews of multiple items.  Because these essays are more complex and often engage important larger research concerns, they are peer-reviewed.)