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What Is a Scholarly Source? | Beginner's Guide

Scholarly sources (aka academic sources) are written by experts in their field. They’re supported by evidence and informed by up-to-date research.

As a student, you should aim to use scholarly sources in your research and to follow the same kinds of scholarly conventions in your own writing. This means knowing how to:

• Distinguish between different types of sources
• Find sources for your research
• Evaluate the relevance and credibility of sources
• Integrate sources into your text and cite them correctly

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Table of contents

What is a scholarly source, types of sources, how do i find scholarly sources, how do i evaluate sources, integrating and citing sources, frequently asked questions about scholarly sources.

Scholarly sources are written by experts and are intended to advance knowledge in a specific field of study.

They serve a range of purposes, including:

• Communicating original research
• Contributing to the theoretical foundations of a discipline
• Summarising current research trends

Scholarly sources use formal and technical language, as they’re written for readers with knowledge of the discipline.

They should:

• Aim to educate or inform
• Support their arguments and conclusions with evidence
• Be attributed to a specific author or authors, also indicating their academic qualifications

They should not:

• Present a biased perspective
• Contain spelling or grammatical errors
• Rely on appeals to emotion

Scholarly sources should be well structured and contain information on the methodology used in the research they describe. They may also include a literature review . They contain formal citations wherever information from other sources is referenced.

Scholarly books are typically published by a university press or academic publisher. Scholarly articles are typically longer than popular articles. They are published in discipline-specific journals and are typically peer-reviewed.

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Various types of sources are used in academic writing. Different sources may become relevant at different stages of the research process .

The sources commonly used in academic writing include:

• Academic journals
• Scholarly books
• Encyclopedias

Depending on your research topic and approach, each of these sources falls into one of three categories:

• Primary sources provide direct evidence about your research topic (e.g., a diary entry from a historical figure).
• Secondary sources interpret or provide commentary on primary sources (e.g., an academic book).
• Tertiary sources summarize or consolidate primary and secondary sources but don’t provide original insights (e.g., a bibliography).

Tertiary sources are not typically cited in academic writing , but they can be used to learn more about a topic.

If you’re unsure what kinds of sources are relevant to your topic, consult your instructor.

In practically any kind of research, you’ll have to find sources to engage with. How you find your sources will depend on what you’re looking for. The main places to look for sources are:

• Research databases: A good place to start is with Google Scholar . Also consult the website of your institution’s library to see what academic databases they provide access to.
• Your institution’s library: Consult your library’s catalog to find relevant sources. Browse the shelves of relevant sections. You can also consult the bibliographies of any relevant sources to find further useful sources.

When using academic databases or search engines, you can use Boolean operators to include or exclude keywords to refine your results.

Knowing how to evaluate sources is one of the most important information literacy skills. It helps you ensure that the sources you use are scholarly, credible , and relevant to your topic, and that they contain coherent and informed arguments.

• Evaluate the credibility of a source using the CRAAP test or lateral reading . These help you assess a source’s currency, relevance, authority, accuracy, and purpose.
• Evaluate a source’s relevance by analyzing how the author engages with key debates, major publications or scholars, gaps in existing knowledge, and research trends.
• Evaluate a source’s arguments by analysing the relationship between a source’s claims and the evidence used to support them.

When you are evaluating sources, it’s important to think critically and to be aware of your own biases.

In addition to finding and evaluating sources, you should also know how to integrate sources into your writing. You can use signal phrases to introduce sources in your text, and then integrate them by:

• Quoting : This means including the exact words of another source in your paper. The quoted text must be enclosed in quotation marks or (for longer quotes) presented as a block quote . Quote a source when the meaning is difficult to convey in different words or when you want to analyse the language itself.
• Paraphrasing : This means putting another person’s ideas into your own words. It allows you to integrate sources more smoothly into your text, maintaining a consistent voice. It also shows that you have understood the meaning of the source.
• Summarising : This means giving an overview of the essential points of a source. Summaries should be much shorter than the original text. You should describe the key points in your own words and not quote from the original text.

You must cite a source whenever you reference someone else’s work. This gives credit to the author. Failing to cite your sources is regarded as plagiarism and could get you in trouble.

The most common citation styles are APA , MLA , and Chicago style . Each citation style has specific rules for formatting citations.

The easiest way to create accurate citations is to use the free Scribbr Citation Generator . Simply enter the source title, URL, or DOI, and the generator creates your citation automatically.

Generate accurate citations with Scribbr

Scholarly sources are written by experts in their field and are typically subjected to peer review . They are intended for a scholarly audience, include a full bibliography, and use scholarly or technical language. For these reasons, they are typically considered credible sources .

Popular sources like magazines and news articles are typically written by journalists. These types of sources usually don’t include a bibliography and are written for a popular, rather than academic, audience. They are not always reliable and may be written from a biased or uninformed perspective, but they can still be cited in some contexts.

There are many types of sources commonly used in research. These include:

• Journal articles

You’ll likely use a variety of these sources throughout the research process , and the kinds of sources you use will depend on your research topic and goals.

It is important to find credible sources and use those that you can be sure are sufficiently scholarly .

• Consult your institute’s library to find out what books, journals, research databases, and other types of sources they provide access to.
• Look for books published by respected academic publishing houses and university presses, as these are typically considered trustworthy sources.
• Look for journals that use a peer review process. This means that experts in the field assess the quality and credibility of an article before it is published.

A credible source should pass the CRAAP test  and follow these guidelines:

• The information should be up to date and current.
• The author and publication should be a trusted authority on the subject you are researching.
• The sources the author cited should be easy to find, clear, and unbiased.
• For a web source, the URL and layout should signify that it is trustworthy.

When searching for sources in databases, think of specific keywords that are relevant to your topic , and consider variations on them or synonyms that might be relevant.

Once you have a clear idea of your research parameters and key terms, choose a database that is relevant to your research (e.g., Medline, JSTOR, Project MUSE).

Find out if the database has a “subject search” option. This can help to refine your search. Use Boolean operators to combine your keywords, exclude specific search terms, and search exact phrases to find the most relevant sources.

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• Campus Life

Writing a good college essay can be tough and time-consuming. It will cost you several trips to the library, hours of pouring over your notes, and sleepless nights scouring online databases. ⏳

And while the internet is a huge pool of information, it is crucial to identify and use credible sources . So, the big question is: How can you find the right academic references for your college essay? 

Here’s a guide to finding essay sources that will impress your professor and get you that well-deserved A! 🔍

Start With Wikipedia 

Yes, we all know academic researchers frown upon Wikipedia since it’s user-generated (so anyone can write anything). But it’s actually a great springboard to get an overview of your essay topic . 💻

At the bottom of each Wikipedia page, you’ll find a treasure trove of legitimate sources and citations that you can use in your essay. 

Check Out Primary Sources

Primary sources are the building blocks of any research project. They must serve as the foundation of your research, whereas secondary sources should inform and supplement the primary sources.

Primary sources are first-hand accounts on a subject, often unedited, that offer a close, personal overview of a topic. They encourage students to read between the lines and approach them with a critical mindset. 🤔

When analyzing primary sources, ask yourself key questions like, “Who is the intended audience?” or “What does the source tell me about the period?”

By considering these questions, you can effectively understand the historical context and cultural perspectives and avoid potential bias or inaccuracy . This will also help you develop well-supported arguments and strengthen your essay. 💪

Get the Most Out of the Library

Students may gravitate toward online research but the good old library is still a trusted source of information . In fact, 58 percent of Americans aged 16 and older have a library card — and for good reason! 

Library databases allow you to efficiently search for published information, such as magazines, journals, and newspaper articles . 

These sources contain scholarly articles by notable authors, journalists, and researchers. If you hit a paywall for a journal or newspaper, verify if your library has a subscription — problem solved! ✅

But the most underutilized tool in libraries is the staff. Librarians know all about research methods, using information systems, statistics, and management. 

They’re experts when it comes to finding the information you need. All you have to do is ask your university librarian for help finding top-tier resources on your essay topic. 📚

Use Academic Search Engines 

Let’s get this straight: It’s hard to write a research paper without consulting the internet . 

Most of us start our search with Google, but unfortunately, search engines don’t always churn out credible results . That’s why it’s crucial to explore other portals with an academic focus when searching for essay sources . ⚠️

Check out these options:

• BASE : The Bielefeld Academic Search Engine (BASE) contains 4,000 sources and provides search results from more than 100 million documents. They also offer an advanced search option that allows users to narrow down their research. The BASE advanced search lets users use filters such as author names, publication dates, and document types to find more relevant results, saving time and improving academic research efficiency.
• Refseek : A web search tool for students and researchers. You can access over a billion documents, books, newspapers, and journals without getting distracted by ads or sponsored links. 
• Google Scholar : This connects you with hundreds of relevant scholarly journals. What’s more, it provides formatted citations in MLA, AP, or APA that you can export to RefWorks or BibTex. 
• JSTOR : The platform provides a large collection of academic journals, books, and original sources from a variety of subjects.
• PubMed : This includes articles from scholarly journals and research institutes with a focus on biomedical and life sciences research.
• LexisNexis Academic : It focuses on researching legal and news-related subjects, including reports, legal publications, and court cases.   

Opt for Digital Libraries and Databases 

Digital libraries have specialized collections in all fields of study. They are easy to access and contain millions of books, audiobooks, journals, and videos that can help you further your essay research. 

The best part? No more waiting for popular books to become available! Digital libraries let you read and download content instantly, anytime, anywhere, using your computer or phone . 📱 

Of course, there may be some occasions where you’ll find your university doesn’t have access to a particular online database.  

If you’ve found the perfect journal article but can’t get access, try emailing the professor who wrote it and ask for a PDF — most academics will be quite happy to provide you access to their work. 📧

Don’t Forget the Bibliography of Your Sources

After you have a list of credible sources, take a closer look at their citations. Seek out the primary sources these citations used for research. This will open up a new set of materials to work with for your essay. 🗒️ 

Plus, they often contain references to publications that make alternate viewpoints or offer diverse interpretations of the topic at hand. 

TIP: Once you start your research, you may find the same sources pop up over and over again. Consult Google Scholar to see the articles in a publication that are cited the most (along with who cited them). Make a list of these and incorporate them in your essay. 

Look Beyond Journals and Books

The world of research is your oyster, and with a diverse array of sources, your academic essay can shine if you dare to explore the unconventional.

Peruse through thrilling audio and video recordings that transport you to historic moments or cultural events, or explore interviews with experts who can add personal insights and real-life perspectives to your essay . 🎧

Incorporate variety in the resources you add to make your essay an interesting read. This will also show your professor that you’ve gone above and beyond to create a well-researched essay. 👌

Note: Critically assess the reliability and validity of sources outside of the conventional academic channels because their level of accuracy may vary. Always check the author’s qualifications, and the reputation of the source, and cross-reference information from various sources.

Learn to Quickly Evaluate a Source

Essays and research papers come with deadlines. In an ideal world, you would meticulously examine each potential essay source, but there’s a smarter way to do it to save time! 🗓️

Here’s a helpful approach to evaluating a source: First, read the abstract or introduction of the source to decide if it’s useful for your work . 

Then, take a look at the citations and references at the end of the source . You can also check the publication date to ensure the information is current.

If it’s an online source, check out the domain name. Sites with .edu domains are associated with educational facilities, while .gov domains belong to government agencies. These sources are generally reliable due to their affiliation with reputable institutions. 

Additionally, examine the author’s credentials and expertise in the field . Look for authors who have relevant academic backgrounds or professional experience related to the topic. ✍️

Lastly, consider the reputation of the publisher . Reputable publishers are known for maintaining high standards of quality and accuracy in their publications. 

Don’t know where to start? Check the publisher’s website, browse through its publication list, and look for details about its editorial board and reviewers. 🧐

Putting together a top-notch essay is a Herculean task — but if you can collect the right resources you’re already halfway there! 💯

The Easy Guide to Finding Essay Sources: Frequently Asked Questions

What are academic sources .

Academic sources are dependable and trustworthy documents created by subject-matter specialists and distributed by respectable publishers or academic publications . 

They go through an exhaustive screening procedure and frequently contain citations or references to other academic publications.

How do I find trustworthy sources for my academic research?

Start with reputable sources such as scholarly journals and books from respected publishers. Consider the expertise of the author and the publisher’s reputation, and look for sources that have undergone the peer review process. 

Check the publication date to ensure the information is current. Be aware of potential biases in the sources and evaluate the evidence provided. 

What are the best sources for essays?

The best sources for essays are those that offer accurate and up-to-date information. 

Scholarly journals, expert books, government websites, academic databases, credible websites with specific domains (.gov,.edu, and .org), must-read books related to the topic, secondary readings for additional insights, scholarly sites, scientific papers, and reliable news and interviews are examples of these. 

How do I include a source in an essay? 

Introduce the source with an initial phrase. Then, summarize, paraphrase, or quote the material as needed and provide proper citations . 

When directly quoting the source, use quotation marks and cite the author, year, and page number. 

For summarizing, briefly present the main points and cite the author and year. When paraphrasing, restate the information in your own words and cite the author, year, and page number. 

Include relevant details about the author, title, and genre when citing the source for the first time. Each college may have varying guidelines for sourcing, so it’s important to check with your institution what is required.

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Finding Scholarly Articles: Home

What's a Scholarly Article?

Your professor has specified that you are to use scholarly (or primary research or peer-reviewed or refereed or academic) articles only in your paper. What does that mean?

Scholarly or primary research articles are peer-reviewed , which means that they have gone through the process of being read by reviewers or referees  before being accepted for publication. When a scholar submits an article to a scholarly journal, the manuscript is sent to experts in that field to read and decide if the research is valid and the article should be published. Typically the reviewers indicate to the journal editors whether they think the article should be accepted, sent back for revisions, or rejected.

To decide whether an article is a primary research article, look for the following:

• The author’s (or authors') credentials and academic affiliation(s) should be given;
• There should be an abstract summarizing the research;
• The methods and materials used should be given, often in a separate section;
• There are citations within the text or footnotes referencing sources used;
• Results of the research are given;
• There should be discussion   and  conclusion ;
• With a bibliography or list of references at the end.

Caution: even though a journal may be peer-reviewed, not all the items in it will be. For instance, there might be editorials, book reviews, news reports, etc. Check for the parts of the article to be sure.   

You can limit your search results to primary research, peer-reviewed or refereed articles in many databases. To search for scholarly articles in  HOLLIS , type your keywords in the box at the top, and select  Catalog&Articles  from the choices that appear next.   On the search results screen, look for the  Show Only section on the right and click on  Peer-reviewed articles . (Make sure to  login in with your HarvardKey to get full-text of the articles that Harvard has purchased.)

Many of the databases that Harvard offers have similar features to limit to peer-reviewed or scholarly articles.  For example in Academic Search Premier , click on the box for Scholarly (Peer Reviewed) Journals  on the search screen.

Review articles are another great way to find scholarly primary research articles.   Review articles are not considered "primary research", but they pull together primary research articles on a topic, summarize and analyze them.  In Google Scholar , click on Review Articles  at the left of the search results screen. Ask your professor whether review articles can be cited for an assignment.

A note about Google searching.  A regular Google search turns up a broad variety of results, which can include scholarly articles but Google results also contain commercial and popular sources which may be misleading, outdated, etc.  Use Google Scholar  through the Harvard Library instead.

About Wikipedia .  W ikipedia is not considered scholarly, and should not be cited, but it frequently includes references to scholarly articles. Before using those references for an assignment, double check by finding them in Hollis or a more specific subject  database .

Still not sure about a source? Consult the course syllabus for guidance, contact your professor or teaching fellow, or use the Ask A Librarian service.

• Last Updated: Oct 3, 2023 3:37 PM
• URL: https://guides.library.harvard.edu/FindingScholarlyArticles

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• Writing Tips

A Student’s Guide to Finding Quality Sources for Essays

• 9-minute read
• 1st August 2023

So, you’ve been assigned your first college essay. You need to write at least a thousand words but have one issue: you must include quality sources, which will go in the reference list. Your professor has only told you, “Utilize academic databases and scholarly journals.”

Okay, so how exactly do you find credible sources for your essay ? Well, we’ll guide you through that in today’s post. We’ll explore finding quality sources and why you need them. By the time you finish reading, you’ll be ready to find sources for your essay.

Why Do I Need Sources?

You likely learned the importance of sources in high school. You need them to show that you are well-read on your chosen topic. You can’t ignore the importance of conducting academic research , as it will be part of your daily college grind.

Submitting an essay without sources would be like serving a hamburger with just the bun and beef patty. Think of sources as toppings on a burger. An essay lacking sources will undermine your credibility, leaving your professor wondering, “How do you know that?”

You also need to include citations to support your claims, which come from the sources you choose.

Finding Sources

Finding sources will depend on whether you want primary or secondary sources . Primary sources provide first-hand facts about your topic. For example, if your topic is related to literature, you would seek novels or poems as your primary sources. Secondary sources contain information from primary sources, such as journal articles.

Whether they’re primary or secondary sources, here are our suggestions for finding them.

1.   Consult the Textbook

Your course textbook is a great starting point, as it will likely contain valuable and relevant information about your topic. Many students believe the textbook won’t be accepted as a source for an essay, but this is false. Your professor will welcome citations from the textbook.

2.   Head to Your School’s Library

No, we’re not suggesting heading to the library’s on-site Starbucks, hoping for source-searching inspiration as you sip that frothy latte! Your school’s library contains numerous print sources, such as books, magazines, and newspapers. College libraries also subscribe to databases containing journal articles.

Journal articles are highly valued in academic research; every professor will expect at least a few of them in a reference list. Journal articles, or academic journals, are the most current sources in academia written by renowned scholars in the chosen field of study. Additionally, journal articles contribute to the field, summarize the current situation of it, and add new insight to the theory. They are also credible, as field experts review them before publication.

You don’t have to leave your dorm and head to the library. You can access various sources from your school’s library database online. Here’s an example of a student accessing the University of South Florida’s library database from their favorite coffee shop.

Navigating your library’s database can seem daunting; however, the library staff will be more than happy to help you, so don’t be afraid to seek help.

Finally, your institution’s library uses an inter-library loan system, allowing students to request out-of-stock print or online sources. If the library doesn’t have a specific item you need, there’s a good chance they can get it from another library.

3.   Research Databases

You can use online research databases to find journal articles, other scholarly sources, and specific books. Research databases, which feature various search functions, can help you find the most current and relevant sources.

These research databases are available through your school library, giving you access to popular subject-specific databases such as JSTOR, Project Muse, and PubMed. You can download and save relevant articles from such databases; however, you must be logged into your student account to access and download full-version articles.

Knowing the essay’s scope and relevant keywords is essential for an optimal experience with databases. Once you become familiar with databases, they’ll be your best friends when conducting academic research.

4. Google Scholar

If Google is your preferred poison, we suggest using Google Scholar . It’s Google’s academic search engine, which works like an ordinary Google search except that it finds relevant academic print and online sources. Take this example of a student using Google Scholar to search for sources related to cyberbullying in schools.

Google Scholar presents various journal articles for the student. You can refine your search to find articles that have been published within the last year. One distinguishing Google Scholar feature is its Cited by function that shows the number of times a source has been cited. This function can inform you about a source’s credibility and importance to your topic.

5.   Boolean Operators

We suggest using Boolean operators if your essay topic contains multiple search terms. Boolean operators expand or narrow your search parameters when using research databases. They use AND , OR , and NOT to include or exclude keywords from your search, allowing students to connect various keywords to optimize their search results. Boolean operators can be tricky if you aren’t familiar with using AND, OR, and NOT in search parameters.

Let’s say you’re searching for an article on cyberbullying written by an author named Bales in 2003. You can use AND to find the title of the article using keywords.

This will tell the database that all three terms must be present in the search result.

You can use OR to connect two or more similar concepts and broaden your search. This means any search terms you input can appear in the search results.

You can use NOT to exclude words or terms from your search by typing the excluded word after OR.

The search result will include soccer and omit football . This can be very useful in this example, as football is the UK word for soccer. It also means American football in US English. Because the student only wants to find soccer results, excluding football will avoid pulling up results related to American football.

Boolean operators are helpful if you clearly understand the scope of the assignment and know relevant keywords.

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6.   Additional Online Sources

Searching for general online sources is another way to go. You can find potential sources from websites and blogs. We suggest consulting popular news websites such as BBC News and the New York Times, as they often have current and relevant articles related to the topic.

We encourage you to err on the side of caution when using non-academic online sources. You need to ensure that online sources are credible . We recommend looking for sites with trusted domain extensions, such as . edu, .org , and .gov . URLs with .edu endings are educational resources, while .org endings are resources from organizations. Endings with .gov are government-related resources.

It’s also a good idea to look for sources that contain a Digital Object Finder ( DOI ). A DOI is a permanent string attached to online journal articles and books, making it simple to retrieve them. Articles with DOIs indicate that they have been published in peer-reviewed articles.

How Many Sources Should I Have?

The essay rubric will probably specify the number of sources required. However, this is not always the case, so you need to use some judgment. The basic rule is to gather sources until you have enough information to support your claims. If you’re writing an essay of 2,000 words, you should have at least six sources. Remember that your professor expects variety. Try this approach:

–    One book (if possible)

–    Two to three journal articles

–    One additional online source (preferably with a trusted domain extension)

Depending on the field of study, you may find that most of your sources come from journal articles.

 Here’s a recap of finding quality sources for your essay:

●  Professors want you to find a variety of sources (print and online)

●  Your school’s library has access to thousands of highly-valued journal articles from its database

●  Have a solid understanding of the topic and relevant keywords when using Boolean operators to narrow your search results

●  Evaluate the credibility of additional online sources

●  Look for websites with trusted domain extensions

●  As a rule, use at least six sources for an essay of 2,000 words

By following our suggestions, you can get your search off to a flying start. We also recommend keeping track of your sources as you conduct your research. This will make it easier to correctly format citations from your sources.

Finally, we urge you to search for sources right after your professor assigns the essay. Waiting until a few days before the essay is due to start searching is a bad idea.

1. What Types of Sources Are Recommended?

We recommend credible websites, books, journal articles, and newspapers.

2. How Do I Know if a Source Is Credible?

 A source is credible if:

●  The author is an expert in the field or is a well-respected publisher (New York Times)

●  It contains citations for sources used

●  The website has a trusted domain extension

●  It has current information on your topic

3. How Can I Get the Most Out of Research Databases?

Brainstorm specific keywords related to your topic. This will help you efficiently use Boolean operators. You should also have a clear understanding of the scope of your essay. Finally, use databases that are related to your topic. For instance, if your topic is literature then JSTOR is a good option.

4. Is Writing the Reference List Difficult?

This will depend on the required referencing style, such as APA, MLA, and Chicago. Remember to list the sources alphabetically in the reference list.

Once you’ve written the list, we recommend proofreading it. Your professor will be checking that your reference list meets the referencing style guidelines. A second pair of eyes always helps, so we recommend asking our proofreading experts to review your list . They can check that your sources are listed alphabetically. Additionally, our proofreaders will check that your list meets referencing style guidelines. Our proofreaders are pros with popular referencing styles such as MLA and APA. Consider submitting a 500-word document for free!

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The top list of academic search engines

1. Google Scholar

4. science.gov, 5. semantic scholar, 6. baidu scholar, get the most out of academic search engines, frequently asked questions about academic search engines, related articles.

Academic search engines have become the number one resource to turn to in order to find research papers and other scholarly sources. While classic academic databases like Web of Science and Scopus are locked behind paywalls, Google Scholar and others can be accessed free of charge. In order to help you get your research done fast, we have compiled the top list of free academic search engines.

Google Scholar is the clear number one when it comes to academic search engines. It's the power of Google searches applied to research papers and patents. It not only lets you find research papers for all academic disciplines for free but also often provides links to full-text PDF files.

• Coverage: approx. 200 million articles
• Abstracts: only a snippet of the abstract is available
• Related articles: ✔
• References: ✔
• Cited by: ✔
• Links to full text: ✔
• Export formats: APA, MLA, Chicago, Harvard, Vancouver, RIS, BibTeX

BASE is hosted at Bielefeld University in Germany. That is also where its name stems from (Bielefeld Academic Search Engine).

• Coverage: approx. 136 million articles (contains duplicates)
• Abstracts: ✔
• Related articles: ✘
• References: ✘
• Cited by: ✘
• Export formats: RIS, BibTeX

CORE is an academic search engine dedicated to open-access research papers. For each search result, a link to the full-text PDF or full-text web page is provided.

• Coverage: approx. 136 million articles
• Links to full text: ✔ (all articles in CORE are open access)
• Export formats: BibTeX

Science.gov is a fantastic resource as it bundles and offers free access to search results from more than 15 U.S. federal agencies. There is no need anymore to query all those resources separately!

• Coverage: approx. 200 million articles and reports
• Links to full text: ✔ (available for some databases)
• Export formats: APA, MLA, RIS, BibTeX (available for some databases)

Semantic Scholar is the new kid on the block. Its mission is to provide more relevant and impactful search results using AI-powered algorithms that find hidden connections and links between research topics.

• Coverage: approx. 40 million articles
• Export formats: APA, MLA, Chicago, BibTeX

Although Baidu Scholar's interface is in Chinese, its index contains research papers in English as well as Chinese.

• Coverage: no detailed statistics available, approx. 100 million articles
• Abstracts: only snippets of the abstract are available
• Export formats: APA, MLA, RIS, BibTeX

RefSeek searches more than one billion documents from academic and organizational websites. Its clean interface makes it especially easy to use for students and new researchers.

• Coverage: no detailed statistics available, approx. 1 billion documents
• Abstracts: only snippets of the article are available
• Export formats: not available

Consider using a reference manager like Paperpile to save, organize, and cite your references. Paperpile integrates with Google Scholar and many popular databases, so you can save references and PDFs directly to your library using the Paperpile buttons:

Google Scholar is an academic search engine, and it is the clear number one when it comes to academic search engines. It's the power of Google searches applied to research papers and patents. It not only let's you find research papers for all academic disciplines for free, but also often provides links to full text PDF file.

Semantic Scholar is a free, AI-powered research tool for scientific literature developed at the Allen Institute for AI. Sematic Scholar was publicly released in 2015 and uses advances in natural language processing to provide summaries for scholarly papers.

BASE , as its name suggest is an academic search engine. It is hosted at Bielefeld University in Germany and that's where it name stems from (Bielefeld Academic Search Engine).

CORE is an academic search engine dedicated to open access research papers. For each search result a link to the full text PDF or full text web page is provided.

Science.gov is a fantastic resource as it bundles and offers free access to search results from more than 15 U.S. federal agencies. There is no need any more to query all those resources separately!

• FACULTY/STAFF
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Informative Essay

• Getting Started
• Developing Your Topic
• Web Searching
• Scholarly Sources
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Understanding Scholarly Research

Scholarly Research as a Conversation

Engaging with scholarly research can sometimes feel overwhelming or intimidating for students especially when you've never done it before. For this reason, it can be helpful to use an analogy when considering the function and format of scholarly sources. 

The video below explores the idea of scholarly research as a conversation and includes strategies for how to find, understand, and enter into the scholarly conversation on your topic.

Searching an Academic Database

Using Academic Search Complete

An academic database, like the ones available through the DVC library, contains thousands of articles from a wide variety of academic or scholarly journals. 

Below is a video that demonstrates how to access the library database, Academic Search Complete and includes how to:

• Apply publication date, source type, and subject filters
• Access the record for an academic journal article
• Access and download a PDF of the full-text article from the database

What is Peer Review

Reading an Academic Journal Article

Academic journal articles tend to be quite long and full of dense, discipline-specific language. 

Once you have explored things like the article's title and abstract and are interested in examining the article itself, there is a method  that you likely want to use to read through the article. 

The video below shows you how to read through an academic journal article in a way that will maximize your time and your research efforts. 

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Research for Essay Writing in English

• Library Terminology
• Types of sources
• Google vs. Library Databases
• Building your search strategy
• Running your search
• Evaluating your results
• Chicago Manual of Style

Peer-reviewed or Not?

How can you determine if an article has been peer-reviewed?

• On the article itself, look for submission and acceptance dates for an article
• For a journal, look at the cover info to determine the presence of an editorial board or committee.
• In the record look for the field  referred  to determine if the journal is peer-reviewed.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this section, you should be able to: 

• Identify various formats in which information can be found
• Understand when it is appropriate to utilize various source types based on your specific information needs

What is a Source?

In your courses, you may hear your professors refer to 'sources of information'. But what do we mean when we say sources? Information can be found in an incredibly wide variety of types, formats, and styles. This can include anything created from other people, to text, to video, and everything found in between. Anything that provides information or material that informs your thoughts on a topic can be considered a source of information. 

Each source type has a specific role in research and may be more or less useful for you depending on your specific research context. It is important to understand the different sources of information and what you can gain from them. Prior to starting your research, make sure that you consider your information needs. Are you looking for more of a topic overview / general information? Or do you need in-depth, detailed information on your topic? Having these considerations in mind will allow you to create an appropriate research plan and will ultimately make your research process easier. 

There are many different ways in which sources can be categorized. Below we will describe two of these possible categorizations which are commonly referred to in academia: 

• primary sources vs secondary sources
• scholarly sources vs professional sources vs popular sources .  

Primary and Secondary Sources

What is a primary source? A primary source is a piece of evidence. It is a by-product of an event, or a recording of an event as it happened. Here are some examples:

In the humanities, a primary source could be: correspondences, interviews, manuscripts, newspapers, novels, paintings, period artifacts, photographs, statistics, surveys, testimonies, videos, etc. 

In the sciences, a primary source could be: articles detailing an original study, case notes or report forms, clinical exams, experimental protocols, industrial drawings, raw data or results, etc. 

Why use a primary source? Primary sources allow direct entry into a historical event or pieces of evidence. Sometimes they are difficult to understand. Having even a surface understanding of the context in which they were produced helps to interpret primary sources.

(Source: History - Primary Sources by Jennifer Dekker and Types of Sources by SASS)

What is a secondary source? Secondary sources, also called academic sources or scientific sources, are analytical documents that interpret primary sources. They are created by someone who did not experience first-hand or participate in the events or conditions you're researching. 

They include books, electronic resources, memoirs, monographs, peer-reviewed articles, theses.

Why use a secondary source? You will be asked to use secondary sources to support your ideas and arguments when writing any academic papers. Since they are often written by experts to review, analyze, explain or interpret primary sources, they will help you understand a topic and provide you with different perspectives. Remember that not all secondary sources are considered scholarly or academic. 

(Source: Types of Sources by SASS and Library Research Guide for the History of Science by Harvard Library)

Scholarly, Professional, and Popular Sources

A second categorization of information sources includes scholarly sources vs professional or trade sources vs popular sources. These categories refer to the specific audience for which they are being produced. 

Scholarly sources  are typically written by an expert, on their own original research, for an audience of other experts. Because of this, they often include discipline-specific jargon and terminology that make it harder for non-experts to understand. At the end of the source, you will find a bibliography containing the full references of all of the other sources used to support their claims. Many scholarly sources have gone through a peer-review process (described in detail further down on the page). 

Professional or trade sources  are typically written by practitioners within a specific field, for other practitioners in that field. Because of this, they often use the terminology and language that is commonly used within the field but may not be common knowledge to the general public. While scholarly sources usually focus more on theory or academic research, professional sources focus on current practices and developments in the field. At the end of the source, you may find a bibliography, however, it will not be as extensive as in scholarly publications.

Popular sources  are typically written by non-experts (journalists or writers) for the general public. Since it is being produced for a more general audience, they do not use discipline-specific terminology and do not assume that you have any prior knowledge of the subject. As a result, they are typically much easier to understand. Depending on the type of popular source, they may refer to scholarly sources, however, they do not usually contain a full bibliography. 

What does "peer reviewed" or "refereed" mean?

To confirm that a journal is peer-reviewed look for submission and acceptance dates for an article, or at the cover info of the journal to determine the presence of an editorial board or committee.

Many databases provide the option to limit to scholarly /academic/ peer-reviewed journals during the search process.

Scholarly articles are not found in newspapers or popular magazines.  If your topic is current there may be few. Academic/scholarly journals can also be recognized by other characteristics:

• they usually have an “abstract”
• they tend to be longer in length
• they may have charts or graphs
• they contain minimal advertising
• they are  usually available at a university library or through a subscription
• they may have words like Review, Studies or Quarterly in title
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fa3d988da6f218669ec27d6b6019a0cd

A publication of the harvard college writing program.

Harvard Guide to Using Sources 

• The Honor Code

Why Use Sources?

College writing assignments generally ask you to respond in some way to sources. Some assignments will require you to consult only sources assigned in class, while others will require you to locate your own sources relevant to a specific research topic. In many of your courses, your research will focus primarily on written texts such as books and scholarly articles, but you may also be asked to consult a variety of other sources, including letters, diaries, films, works of art, data from experiments, numerical data, surveys, and transcripts of interviews.

What constitutes a useful and reliable source will vary according to both your assignment and the methods used in a particular field of study. As you approach a paper in an unfamiliar field, it will be important to remember that within each field of study, scholars distinguish between primary sources, or the raw material that they analyze as they attempt to answer a question, and secondary sources, or the analyses of that raw material done by other scholars in the field. For example, for literary scholars, primary sources include fiction and poetry, while secondary sources include criticism written by other scholars about those literary texts. Historians, on the other hand, grapple with primary sources such as letters, diaries, and eyewitness accounts produced at the time of an event, as well as with secondary sources such as arguments presented by other historians. Sociologists tend to rely for raw material on quantitative data, such as surveys, censuses, and other statistics, or qualitative data, such as observation and interviews.

Social scientists in some fields, such as psychology and economics, also consider empirical journal articles (articles that describe the results of original research) published in peer-reviewed journals to be primary sources. These articles provide raw material for other scholars, who may then raise questions about the published results or develop new research based on these results. Social scientists in other fields, such as anthropology and history, however, do not consider research articles primary sources because articles in these fields do not typically present raw data. For these social scientists, journal articles would be secondary sources. For all social scientists, literature reviews and published books are considered secondary sources.

Natural scientists consider empirical articles published in peer-reviewed journals to be primary sources. These published results of experiments and analyses of data provide the raw material for other scientists to consider as they pursue their own research. Secondary sources in the natural sciences include literature reviews and books.

As a college student taking courses in many different fields, you will need to ask questions about what is considered a reliable source in each new field, and about how sources can be used appropriately in that field. At the same time, there are many common principles for using sources effectively that you will be able to carry with you from course to course. For more information on using sources in different disciplines, you can consult the Harvard Writing Project series of writing guides for specific courses and concentrations. If you are writing a paper for a course in the Government department, you should consult GovWrites for guidance. If you are writing for an anthropology course, you should consult AnthroWrites . If you are writing for a course in one of the Life Sciences fields, you should consult ScienceWrites .

When in doubt, of course, you should always consult your instructor.

• What Are You Supposed to Do with Sources?
• Writing "Original" Papers
• Using Sources Beyond Harvard

PDFs for this Section

• Why Use Sources

ENG 101: The Informative Essay

• About the Informative Essay
• Developing Questions
• The Thesis Statement

Reading Scholarly Sources

• Collecting Scholarly Information
• Research Databases
• MLA Resources

How to read a scholarly article

Scholarly articles may look intimidating but there are tricks to using them without becoming overwhelmed. Unless you are a researcher on the exact subject, scholarly articles are NOT intended to be read in their entirety from the first word to the last! Reading the article is not your assignment, rather you are mining the article for information that relates to your topic.  

• Use the article’s format to navigate its information content:
• Read the title. If it matches your needs, go to 2; if not, move on to another article.
• Read the abstract. If it matches your needs, go to 3…
• Read the conclusion/discussion. If it matches your needs, go to 4…
• Read the introduction. If it matches your needs, go to 5...
• Scan the other sections of the article;
• Return and read any paragraphs that seem pertinent to your research; check citations from that paragraph in the bibliography for additional resources.
• Skip sections of the article that don’t pertain to your research.
• When you encounter unfamiliar terms, look them up in  reference resources ; similarly, refer to  scholarly book s for unfamiliar concepts.  Don't forget that people, like librarians , tutors , and teachers, are great resources when you're stuck.
• Be sure to scan the bibliography to find additional research resources.
• See Collecting Scholarly Information to learn how to use active reading techniques to get the most from your reading!

Anatomy of the Scholarly Article

Primary research articles typically include several sections: an abstract, introduction, materials and methods, results, discussion or conclusion, and a bibliography. 

The abstract is a summary of the paper. It usually highlights the main question/s the authors investigated, provides the key results of their experiments, and gives an overview of the authors' conclusions. Reading the abstract will help you decide if the article was what you were looking for without spending a long time reading the whole paper.

Introduction

The introduction gives background information about the topic of the paper, and sets out the specific questions to be addressed by the authors. Throughout the introduction, there will be citations for previously published articles or reviews that discuss the same topic. Use these citations as recommendations for other articles you can refer to for additional background reading.

Reading the introduction is a test of whether or not you are ready to read the rest of the paper; if the introduction doesn't make sense to you, then the rest of the paper won't either. If you find yourself baffled by the introduction, try going to other sources for information about the topic before you tackle the rest of the paper. Good sources can include reference sources ; a review article or earlier primary research article (perhaps one of the ones cited in the introduction); or your instructor.

Materials and Methods

The materials and methods section gives the technical details of how information was collected. Reading the methods section is helpful in understanding exactly  what  the authors did. After all, if you don't understand their methods, it will be impossible to evaluate their results and conclusions! This section also serves as a "how-to" manual if you're interested in carrying out similar studies.   The materials and methods section is most commonly placed directly after the introduction, or look for a URL "supplementary information" available online.

The results section is the real meat of a primary research article; it contains all the data from the experiments. The figures contain the majority of the data. The accompanying text contains verbal descriptions of the pieces of data the authors feel were most critical. The writing may also put the new data in the context of previous findings. However, often due to space constraints, authors usually do not write text for all their findings and instead, rely on the figures to impart the bulk of the information. So to get the most out of the results section, make sure to spend ample time thoroughly looking at all the graphs, pictures, and tables, and reading their accompanying legends!

Discussion or Conclusion

The discussion section is the authors' opportunity to give you their opinions. It is where they draw conclusions about the results. They may choose to put their results in the context of previous findings and offer theories or new hypotheses that explain the sum body of knowledge in the field. Or the authors may comment on new questions and avenues of exploration that their results give rise to. The purpose of discussion sections in papers is to allow the exchange of ideas between scholars. As such, it is critical to remember that the discussions are the authors' interpretations and not necessarily facts. However, this section is often a good place to get ideas about what kind of research questions are still unanswered in the field and thus, what types of questions you might want your own research project to tackle.

Bibliography - References or Endnotes

Throughout the article, the authors will refer to information from other scholarly publications. These bibliographic citations are all listed in the references section or endnotes. There will always be enough information (authors, title, journal name, publication date, etc.) for you to find the source at a library or online. This makes the bibliography incredibly useful for broadening your own literature search. Particularly note if there are citations in any paragraph in the current paper; if you want more information, you can find and read the articles cited in that paragraph (contact your librarian for help)!

Adapted from Science Buddies. (2017, August 9). How to read a scientific paper . ScienceBuddies.Org. https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/competitions/how-to-read-a-scientific-paper

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• Research Process

Scholarly Sources: What are They and Where can You Find Them?

• 3 minute read
• 32.9K views

Table of Contents

As part of your research journey, it is not only important to conduct high-quality research, but also to add credibility to the research articles you want to publish. Distinguishing your work from the millions of other research publications is challenging but citing good quality scholarly sources is one way to get there!

What is a scholarly source?

A scholarly source is an article or publication written by a subject-matter expert who ensures that the information it contains is updated, accurate, and of utmost quality. Usually, this information is derived from their findings, theories, analyses, and insights from years of research. Scholarly sources can include journal articles, books, conference publications, and even websites.

How are scholarly sources different from popular sources?

As opposed to scholarly sources, popular sources may not be written by subject matter experts. These include newspapers, magazines, book reviews, and editorials, which are non-technical and appeal to the common public. Although they are easier to understand, they may not always contain reliable information.

Scholarly sources undergo a rigorous peer-review process before they are published for the verification of facts or for the identification of conflicts of interest. They are, therefore, much more reliable.

What counts as a scholarly source?

Here are certain characteristics that can help identify scholarly sources:

1. Accuracy

Information in scholarly sources is factually and grammatically accurate. Additionally, a bibliography or a list of references generally accompanies scholarly publications to verify and acknowledge the sources that they are derived from.

2. Author details

You will find the names of all the authors along with their respective qualifications and institutional affiliations in a scholarly source, which adds to its credibility.

3. Lack of bias

Scholarly sources are based on facts and not opinions, with the information free of any confirmation or political bias. The authors appeal to the reader’s sense of logic and not emotion while writing the article.

4. Intended audience

Scholarly sources are largely meant for scholars, researchers, faculty, academicians, and other experts in the field. Since they are not written for the average reader, the language used can be highly technical.

5. Timelines

Sources used for the scholarly publication are usually quite recent, i.e., they will have been published three to five years before the date of the scholarly publication itself.

6. Publisher

Publishers for scholarly sources generally include university presses, professional associations, academic institutions, and commercial publishers.

7. Peer-review

Scholarly sources are generally peer-reviewed, i.e., they have been reviewed and verified by review boards comprising specialists in the field. However, you should note that in some cases, articles may not be peer-reviewed and still be considered scholarly.

The purpose of scholarly sources is to communicate highly academic, research-based ideas.

Why are scholarly sources important?

1. provide credibility.

Citing scholarly sources is the best way to establish credibility of your research publication.

2. Lend authority

Since scholarly sources contain verified expert knowledge, citing them lends authority to your research submission.

3. Ensure impartiality

Scholarly sources prevent confirmation bias. Since they are derived from years of research on a subject, they offer authentic, unbiased views of the research topic, which is highly preferable.

Where can you find scholarly sources?

Popular search engines which contain scholarly sources include Science Direct, Google Scholar, Microsoft Academic, WorldWideScience, ResearchGate, PubMed, JSTOR, Academic Search Premier, and OneSearch. These websites provide thousands of scholarly sources based on various subject areas. You might be able to find scholarly sources in your university library as well!

If, however, you are still confused about finding an authentic scholarly source, seek out Elsevier Author Services . We have experts here to guide you throughout your research journey, with useful advice on how to get your research published!

• Publication Process

Writing an Effective Cover Letter for Manuscript Resubmission

• Manuscript Preparation

Differentiating between the abstract and the introduction of a research paper

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Scholarly Sources: The A-Z Guide

As a researcher, you must have come across the term "Scholarly Sources" several times. However, you might not be sure about "What is a scholarly Source" or "What is considered a scholarly source." Despite this, scholarly sources are the most widely used reference sources that are rampantly cited in academic research and writing. Scholarly sources are quite different from what you typically read or refer to regularly. They are specifically curated based on certain tone, language, audience, and format. In scholarly articles, you will find out that these factors are carefully specialized rather than generalized. Therefore, you need to know and understand the importance of scholarly sources before starting the research writing process.

In this blog, we will introduce you to the concept of a scholarly source, how to identify a scholarly source, the importance of a scholarly source, and more.

What is a Scholarly Source?

Often referred to by many names like academic, peer-reviewed, and refereed sources, a scholarly source, when compared to a popular source, have many distinct features that include:

• Scholarly sources are usually authored by academicians and researchers with advanced degrees that reflect their expertise in a subject domain.
• They are specifically written for a curated audience that includes academicians, researchers, and professional peers.
• Generally, a university press, a professional society, or a recognized scientific publisher only undertakes the publication of scholarly sources.
• Since scholarly sources are curated for a special set of audiences, they are authored in a language, style, and format that its audience would easily grab. However it becomes difficult for someone outside that set of audience to understand the true meaning itself.

While using the term scholarly sources, we majorly refer to the publications that include scholarly, peer-reviewed journals. However, commonly recognized textbooks, data sets, both electronic and print-based guidelines fall in the same category of scholarly sources. You can easily refer to and gather substantial information for your research from these credible sources.

The Importance of a Scholarly Source

As a researcher, you can build or elevate your knowledge by properly studying or responding to the ideas and discoveries of those who came before you. Scholarly sources are distinct and quite distinguished from popular sources because it demands authors to document and verify the sources of facts, ideas, and methods used to reach subsequent insights and conclusions. Besides, scholarly articles provide you with the opportunity to discover and discuss the merits of alternative explanations and standpoints they propose. Therefore, the whole process becomes a lot easier to evaluate the results based on the truth of strengths and weaknesses of the claims made in the source. Thus, it becomes quite helpful for those who hold expertise in  the subject (for example, your peer or professor) and those who have just started to learn about a subject (for example you).

Because of the rigorous peer-reviewing process, scholarly sources encompass a high level of credibility and authority. Now when you refer to a scholarly source, it contributes a high degree of credibility to your research work, too. Additionally, referring to or using scholarly sources is an expected attribute of any academic or scientific research work.

It is quite known to everybody that anyone can just put their opinions on anything in the form of an article on the web. There is a possibility that you may even agree with the conclusion of the articles posted on the web. However, these popular sources or articles don't include any pieces of evidence validating the claims made in their articles. Similarly, articles published in the most popular magazine contain useful information and claims made against the topic. Yet, they also don't provide anything that can either support or negate the claims.

In sharp contrast to all these popular sources, a scholarly source carries all the necessary elements to thoroughly evaluate and assess the validity of an author's claims.

Where to Find Scholarly Sources?

While working on a research project, you must have easy access to reliable, credible, and up-to-date information in your chosen research domain.  Scholarly sources are the best references that you can use best to put your arguments and claims against your research question.

Library databases, search engines, and discipline-specific databases are like the goldmines that you can easily leverage to upscale your research process.

General databases like Academic Search Complete, OmniFile Full text, and others include topics from all the disciplines and usually constitutes a mix of journals, newspapers, trade and popular magazines. While going through these databases, it's pretty common for researchers like you to get overwhelmed, and that is why you should always stick to the filter option of scholarly/peer-reviewed journals only.

Other scholarly-only databases that you can refer to are JSTOR, Project MUSE, Science Direct, etc.

Moreover, you can always check for scholarly sources on Google Scholar and Microsoft Academic. These are free search engines that specialize in bringing forth academic literature. But there are both pros and cons to it.

Besides the fact that these academic search engines are easy to use, the fetched results can sometimes be very difficult to ascertain as credible. Moreover, the quality variation occurs blatantly over these search engines. These search engines algorithms help in predicting the best guess at what a scholarly article is but their results sometimes display irrelevant contents. You are supposed to examine and critically evaluate these results using the following tips to determine if a source is scholarly. Speaking of credible scholarly sources, the SciSpace Discover offers access to more than 200 million credible scholarly papers.

The service allows you to narrow down search results using comprehensive search filters such as PDF availability, year of publication, document type, and institution.  You can stay focused on your topic with SciSpace Discover's personalized suggestion engine. On the article page, you are always provided with a link to related articles, so you stay on course without switching between tasks.

How to Determine if a Source is Scholarly?

Scholarly sources are developed and curated to serve the various interests to answer many questions a research paper espouses. Simply put the purpose of a scholarly source is to:

• Provide credible information on a research idea.
• Spread knowledge and awareness across a particular discipline.
• Review or reassess the current forms of research work available.
• Provide in-depth insights about a particular topic on which the research is based.

Once you understand and know the purpose of a scholarly source, it will be easier for you to discover and identify it. Below is a checklist of attributes you must look for while trying to identify a scholarly source:

1. Authorship

The presence of an author's credential is the first reflection of a scholarly source. Therefore, you must verify whether the credentials are appropriate or not. Take it as a pro-tip; always try to perform the credential search in google scholar. This will help you in ascertaining ifthat the author is a real expert or just for a namesake.

2. Publisher

You must check whether the journal is peer-reviewed or not. Always try to observe that the journal publisher must be a university publisher, professional organization, or a reputable commercial publishing brand house.

Additionally, you should check for the author's instructions for submitting manuscripts. The presence of such an option provides a degree of affirmation that the journal is credible enough. You can always choose to find out more about the publisher by going through their “About Us” page on the website and cross-referring through other search engines like Google Scholar.

Moreover, to discover if the publisher is authentic or not, try to search for the journal title in Ulrichs Web Global Serials Directory. A representative image of the black/white 'referee shirt' icon next to the title indicates that the journal is peer-reviewed.

3. Audience

While going through a scholarly source, you will find out that it has been written for a specific set of readers, including researchers, academicians, and subject experts. Generally, the scholarly article constitutes more technical terminology rather than formal. Additionally, the scholarly sources are often created for an audience that already bears the subject knowledge.

4. Review and Citation of Author’s Work

An author's work after getting published, another researcher often cites or use the previous research of a discipline to claim their findings. Additionally, scholarly books often get reviewed, and that too in an in-depth, thorough manner after publication.

As a researcher, you must search for book reviews if you use a book as a scholarly source. Whereas, if it's a research paper or journal article you are trying to verify as a credible scholarly source, you can use Google Scholar. In Google scholar or similar platforms, you should look for citation stats. This will give you insights into the entire citation history since its publication.

5. Structure of the Publication and Content

Reputed and credible journals always follow a structure in its publication. It includes abstracts, literature, methods, results, and conclusions. Therefore, you must check if the source you are verifying to include in your research contains these parameters or not. Additionally, you should ensure the presence of a reference list too.

The article's tone and content reflect its credibility. You must be able to distinguish between jargon statements and discipline-specific vocabulary. Pieces of evidence cited from previous research can help you recognize the credibility of any source.

What is the Anatomy of a Scholarly Article?

Whether you use a library database or search engines to find the scholarly sources, once the list of sources is visible on the screen, there are some key points through which you can determine if the source is scholarly. Simply put, as a researcher, it is your responsibility to check for parts of an article to ensure that the article is scholarly. Below we have described the common anatomy of a scholarly article through some key points:

Not always, but usually and very often, the title of a scholarly article represents a short and precise summary of the article's contents. The title can also be considered as the research question. Generally, the title contains the technical terms related to the research mentioned.

One of the main reasons for the high credibility of scholarly articles is the high degree of transparency that it constitutes within itself. This transparency is always exhibited in providing the name of authors and their credentials (in case there are multiple authors).

It is quite common nowadays to provide the author's credential next to the name. Otherwise, you can always check for the footnote or endnote section to get the author's credentials.

The credentials are, indeed, shared for establishing the authority of the authors. Also, in case of any discrepancy, it serves as a  point of contact. These are primary reasons for providing the author's email address in recent academic articles.

3. Abstract

Generally written under 300-400 words, an abstract is like a summary of the research topic. As a researcher, you must investigate. As a writer, you must write your abstract, including a description of the problem, an overview of the experiment or argument, and a summary of the findings. An abstract is the section that allows readers to decide whether the article is a relevant research topic or not.

4. Introduction

The introduction section provides information about the research question or perhaps the problem that authors are trying to resolve. Here in the introduction part itself, authors provide the thesis of their argument or the goals & aim of the research. Besides, the relevance and the importance of the research is discussed in the introduction part.

The literature review, which exists as an overview of the related research & findings, may get started in this section itself or as a separate section. To know more about literature review, refer to this comprehensive guide .

5. Publication

You can find all the information about the publication  at the first-page footer part or sometimes at the header. It usually contains information regarding the journal title, issue number, volume, and page numbers.

If you are writing citation of an already published work, in that case you must verify the different references for scholarly sources against the publication information that they provide with the articles.

6. Charts, Graphs, and Equations

Statistical data related to research work are often presented in scholarly articles in the form of charts, graphs, and equations. However, unless there exists some direct relation, pictures or images are rarely used in scholarly sources.

7. Article T ext or Body

The main discussions, including the methods & methodology describing and analyzing the research's scope are presented in sections and sub-sections. This is usually referred to as the "Body" of a scholarly article. The sections of the article may exist as sections or sometimes combined. The discussions will follow a high technical vocabulary and expects subject familiarity from the readers. Therefore, jargon, abbreviations, and technical terms are used without definition, provided it is unambiguous.

8. Conclusion

The section where authors summarize their work and present the outcomes or findings in results is called the conclusion part. The authors may discuss the facts or points that relate their research work to others or extend support and encouragement to take up the mantle they left off.

9. References

An article gets a tag of scholarly when it contains substantial research and information of the related works in the present disciple. Then, all of those related and reference sources are mentioned in this section in the form of a list. Generally, a scholarly article contains a long list of reference sources.

How to Cite a Scholarly Source?

The whole idea behind searching for a relevant scholarly source on a research topic is to use its findings and interpret its results in your research work. You can support your arguments for the outcomes and results through these scholarly sources, provided these sources have appropriate evidence backing the research topic.

You can gain high credibility for your research only if you have used credible scholarly sources.

Be careful in choosing the most relevant and applicable evidence for your research topic. It would be best if you tried using the pieces of evidence from the chosen scholarly source as a bracing at the end of each body paragraph of your research paper. Additionally, you must incorporate the same evidence in the topic statement and prior to your own analysis and interpretation of the reference sources.

SciSpace Discover makes it easy to cite research papers across multiple formats. The 'cite' button on an article page will automatically show you preloaded citation text, so you can copy and paste it into your document.

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Organizing Research for Arts and Humanities Papers and Theses

• General Guide Information
• Developing a Topic
• What are Primary and Secondary Sources
• What are Scholarly and Non-Scholarly Sources
• Writing an Abstract
• Writing Academic Book Reviews
• Writing A Literature Review
• Using Images and other Media

What is a Scholarly Source

Both scholarly and non-scholarly materials have a place in arts and humanities research. Their use, and even their definition, depends on the context of the research project.

Books, conference publications, and academic journal articles, regardless of whether they are print-based or electronic, are common types of scholarly materials, which share the following characteristics:

• The authors are scholars or researchers with known affiliations and educational/research credentials
• The authors cite other sources, be they primary or secondary. Many scholarly publications include citations to other sources and bibliographies
• The language used is either academic or complex, and may include disciplinary or theoretical lingo
• The publisher is a scholarly press that practices editorial review to ensure that content and context adhere to the expected research parameters
• The intended audience is composed of researchers, scholars, academics, and other informed or specialized readership.

Scholarly and academic journals, which are periodic publications that contain articles, have additional characteristics, such as:

• An editorial process that is peer reviewed or refereed
• They publish long articles (essays that are ordinarily at least 10 pages), which may also inlcude an abstract. Scholarly journals often publish essay-length scholarly book reviews, which include citations to other sources
• Scholarly journals are published relatively infrequently, usually quarterly (once every 3 months), semi-annually (twice a year), or annually (once a year).

Use the points above to evaluate the scholarly nature of internet sites. It helps if the site's URL ends in .edu.

So far, so good.

But things are not always clear cut, and here are some complexities to keep in mind:

• Scholarly materials in art, architecture, theater, cinema, and related fields often include images
• Images may constitute a large portion of such publications, with text used to illustrate, contextualize, critique, or explicate the visual component
• There may be fewer citations to other sources, and the bibliographies may be shorter
• The author may be a creative practitioner, such as, for example, an architect or a playwright
• The author may be a multi-disciplinary intellectual of a transnational stature, who does not rely on the commonly acceptable scholarly apparatus. For example, works by Roland Barthes, which lack footnotes or bibliographies, are considered scholarly. An essay by Jean Baudrillard about Disneyworld, which appeared in the French daily newspaper Liberation , may also be considered scholarly, given the stature of the author and his importance in the development of a particular theoretical analysis of popular culture.

What is a Non-Scholarly Source

Non-scholarly materials usually consiste of, but are not limited to:

• News sources, newspapers, and materials that are time-based and get updated frequently
• Sources that are primarily journalistic
• Sources written for a broad readership
• Sources that are advocacy or opinion-based. Keep in mind that opinion-based articles, scholarly news, and letters to the editor get published in scholarly journals alongside scholarly articles.
• Sources that lack references to other sources
• Data and statistical publications and compilations
• Primary sources
• Trade and professional sources
• Reviews of books, movies, plays, or gallery and art shows, that are not essay-length and that do not inlcude a bibliographic context

Non-scholarly materials are legitimate sources for research in the arts and humanities, and should be used in context, just as scholarly sources must be used in context. For example, if you are researching something that happened very recently, you will have to, by necessity, use non-scholarly sources. It takes time for scholarship to be written, reviewed by peers, and published. In addition, there is no guarantee that your particular topic is of interest to other scholars. In such cases, look for scholarly materials in related areas that can provide a critical framework for you to use in analyzing your topic.

Remember to keep track of your sources, regardless of the stage of your research. The USC Libraries have an excellent guide to  citation styles  and to  citation management software . 

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Finding the Right Scholarly Sources for Your Research

We know that dreaded feeling of being assigned a research paper in class. Not only do you have to formulate your thoughts, but you also have to include external research in your paper. This can be a daunting task, as there are multiple potential scholarly sources, and it's your responsibility to determine which of them you should and should not use.

Even so, finding and choosing the right scholarly source doesn't have to be a time-consuming task. In fact, scholarly sources should make writing your research paper easier! First, let's determine what constitutes a scholarly source.

What is a scholarly source?

Scholarly sources refer to pieces of research conducted in any given academic or professional field. These sources aim to ask questions about a specific topic and explore the potential answers. For example, if you are writing a sociology essay on young girls' cultural and societal beauty expectations, your question may be:

What effect – if any- do social media apps have on a young woman's self-image?

To answer this question, you can look to scholarly sources to see what research has been conducted on this topic. These resources may include self-reported surveys conducted on a group of young female students who regularly use social media or statistical analysis about the frequency in which beauty ads appear on an app like Instagram ®.

Scholarly sources allow academics to share their findings with other scholars. This leads to more research and development in the field. Some sources are fact-driven and use research data, such as the results from a biology experiment. Other sources, such as humanities papers, are opinion-driven, but they support their opinions with relevant scholarly research and analysis.

The purpose of requiring scholarly sources is to add credibility to your writing. You may think you have a compelling argument about your given topic, but do other academics agree with you? Is your perspective unique, or can you find other sources corroborating your opinions? Including scholarly sources in your writing strengthens your argument because you can provide preexisting, published evidence to support your thesis.

Scholarly sources may include journal articles, survey results, experiment data – including qualitative or quantitative data – research papers, books, and more. Scholarly sources may be primary or secondary sources .

Primary vs. secondary sources

Primary sources are firsthand accounts written or created by someone directly connected to the origin of the information. For example, an autobiography is a primary source because the author and the subject are the same person. In other words, the author experienced everything they wrote. Primary sources must be interpreted, and that's where secondary sources come into play.

Secondary sources typically analyze, synthesize, and interpret primary sources. For example, a biography is a secondary source because the subject and author are different people. The author summarizes and interprets the events of another person's life.

These sources do not include magazines, blog posts, or other sources that mainly seek to entertain or inform without analysis. These publications will likely contain biased opinions and are usually not peer-reviewed . This means they have not been read and edited by other expert academics in the field to ensure content accuracy.

Some sources – such as newspapers – are more difficult to label. For example, if a reporter was present during an event they're reporting on, the newspaper article can be considered a primary source. However, if the newspaper article is a summarization of an event written by someone who did not directly witness the moment they're writing on, then it is a secondary source. You should take special care in determining if a source is primary or secondary.

Determine credibility

Before using any source in your writing, you must ensure the source is credible. You may be surprised to discover that many resources falsely claim to be a hub for scholarly sources. Scams like these are in it for the money, not the spread of factual information.

For example, academic journals are the most popular sources for scholarly articles. However, there are plenty of predatory journals that seek to make a quick profit off of people, making false promises to academics. How can you be sure a source is scholarly? Here are a few things to investigate:

• Who is the author? The source is most likely scholarly if the author is a professor, researcher, or other academic. These authors aim to inform colleagues in their field about their research. You should also make sure the author's credentials and qualifications are listed. These should include their name, associated institution, and possibly other related works.
• Is it peer-reviewed? This is the best indicator of a scholarly source. Peer-reviewed journals are considered the most authoritative sources because they have been read and edited by other professionals in the field. In other words, if an article or book is peer-reviewed, it is a scholarly source by default.
• Does it have citations? Legitimate scholarly sources will be full of citations. From internal footnotes to a comprehensive bibliography, scholarly sources always give credit where credit is due. This prevents plagiarism and creates a system whereby other researchers can find sources to use in their research. Citations play a crucial role in directing research traffic. The more frequently a specific source is cited, the more credible the source is. Specific search tools, such as Connected Papers , can help you find the most relevant and most frequently cited sources related to your topic, simplifying your search process.
• How long is it? Scholarly sources, particularly scholarly articles, will be relatively long. This is because they have extensive research and evidence that must be included, and there may even be charts, diagrams, and graphs throughout the article.

The best ways to search for sources

If you're a student at a college or university, your institution most likely has an online library database of scholarly sources such as journals, articles, and book chapters. If you are hitting a dead end, research librarians can help answer any questions about navigating these online databases. They're there to assist you on how to tackle your research to maximize search results.

Please note that research librarians sometimes specialize in a specific field. If you're writing a history research paper, it's best to meet with the history research librarian. Similarly, if you're writing an anthropology research paper, you should contact a research librarian specializing in social sciences.

If you aren't affiliated with a college or university, fear not. There are online databases that provide free and open access to people looking for peer-reviewed scholarly sources. Here is a list of online databases you can use during your research process:

• Google Scholar : Google Scholar is a good resource for someone new to finding scholarly sources. This is one of the broader resources, meaning you cannot use keywords or other categories to specify what you want to narrow down your search results. You simply enter your research topic into the search bar and are shown thousands – sometimes millions – of results. There is an option to select a specific publication time range for your search. You're also allowed to sort by relevance or date, so you can prioritize what appears first. If you want to narrow your search as much as possible, you may select "review articles," which will eliminate non-reviewed search results.
• JSTOR : JSTOR is an online library where you can find academic journals, articles, books, and other primary and secondary sources. This database also has a great advanced search feature that we will discuss in detail a little later in this post.
• ProQuest Central : ProQuest Central is a platform containing scholarly journals, newspapers, and other sources within one database. It is an excellent resource because it is a multidisciplinary database, meaning there are sources for fields ranging from business to social science to education.
• Directory of Open Access Journals : The DOAJ provides open access to an organized list of peer-reviewed journals.
• Gale : Gale is an online resource that works with academic libraries to provide databases to students and professors in their research pursuits. You can find links to e-books, case studies, journals, and periodical databases.

Tailor your search

So you've found a relevant journal filled with scholarly articles – now what? Depending on what you're researching, you may find a wide range of results. For example, you may have a more obscure topic that only generates 20 search results. On the other hand, you may have a widely researched topic that has over 10,000 search results. How are you supposed to find a source you can use in your research when you have so many choices? You can always tailor your results. Many resources, such as JSTOR, have an advanced search option where you can select specific criteria for sources you want, such as:

• Keyword input : You may input as many keywords as you wish to see in the source title and body to find particular sources related to your topic.
• Item type : This tool allows you to limit your results based on what kind of source you want. This may include books, book chapters, or articles.
• Language : If you're ending up with over 20,000 search results, we can guarantee that some of those won't be in English. You should make sure that you specify which language you want.
• Publication date : This is an excellent method for narrowing down your search results. If you don't use this feature, you may get results that are out of date. You'll likely want to keep your searches limited to the last decade or two because that's where the most relevant information is found.
• Peer-reviewed : As mentioned above, peer-reviewed articles are the most authoritative and credible sources. There is almost always an option for you to select "peer-reviewed" in your search results. Whether it is a book or article, a source is sure to be scholarly if it is peer-reviewed.
• Subject : This helps you refine your search results to fit your criteria. For example, suppose you're researching beauty standards for African American women. In that case, you can check off "African American Studies," ensuring your search results are more tailored to the topic.

Another tip to determine if a source is for you is to read the entire abstract and not rely on titles. Almost all scholarly sources will have a short paragraph, usually less than 150 or 200 words, outlining the purpose and contents of the source. The title may make the source sound like a perfect fit, so you think you've hit the jackpot. However, upon reading the abstract, you may find the source is entirely irrelevant to your needs. Don't skip the abstract – it's there for a reason.

Start writing

Now that you've learned how to find good, credible scholarly sources, it's time to put your knowledge into practice! Begin writing about your chosen topic, keeping what you've read in mind. Hopefully, the research process is not as daunting as it once seemed. There are plenty of resources out there designed to help you, so take full advantage of the knowledge available at your fingertips.

Header photo by DimaBerlin .

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What is a Scholarly Source? Here are 7 Examples

This article focuses on examples of scholarly sources to help you to understand what is a scholarly article (you can use ‘article’ and ‘source’ – they mean the same).

Scholarly Source Definition

If you’re anything like the students in my classes, you may find you don’t know the scholarly article definition, or which scholarly sources to reference in an essay.

Many of my students aren’t sure exactly how to reference scholarly sources at all, or how to access scholarly sources that teachers will find acceptable.

You will always need to find your own scholarly articles that will impress your teachers. To do this, you need to keep in mind that some essay sources will always be better than others.

The best essay sources are ‘scholarly sources’.

This is what is considered a scholarly source:

• Are written by respectable authors;
• Have been properly peer reviewed by experts who have agreed that the information is of high quality; and
• Are up-to-date.

So let’s get started with explaining what are scholarly sources by looking at the four best scholarly sources to cite:

The Four Best Scholarly Sources to Cite in an Essay

1. your assigned readings.

Start with the assigned readings. These are the scholarly articles, textbooks, and book chapters that your teachers have selected for you to read.

Your teacher will often set scholarly articles as readings for each week.

They will expect you to read them and come to class ready and willing to discuss them. When you read these texts, hopefully you took notes, not the readings.

If you did take notes on your assigned readings, this is one of the first places you should go when planning your paper.

You should write about and analyze the relevant ideas presented in the assigned readings and reference those texts.

The key to referencing good scholarly sources is to start with the sources you’ve been provided by your teacher and then branch out from there.

You should aim for about 50% of your sources to be the assigned readings and 50% to be scholarly articles you found on your own.

Why you Should cite Readings Assigned by your Teacher The reason assigned readings are top-tier scholarly sources for your paper is that they have been read, checked, and selected by your teacher. The teacher chose those readings because they believed that the sources were the best ones available for learning the course content.

You will also want to cite the assigned readings because it shows you have been paying attention in class and keeping up with the coursework.

Too often, I get students referencing texts that are less relevant than the assigned readings!

They will often reference websites and sources easy to access via google. This gives me the impression that they haven’t really tuned into the subject until it was time to write their assessment task.

The two times you shouldn’t reference the assigned readings are:

• When the teacher explicitly asks you not to; and
• When the topic of your paper appears irrelevant to the readings set in class

Otherwise, start with the assigned readings to impress your teacher and show them you’ve been paying attention.

2. A Library Textbook

Textbooks are the first of our two peer-reviewed article types.

How to tell if an Article is Peer Reviewed

Simple: Textbooks and Journal Articles are peer reviewed. Websites and blog posts aren’t.

Textbooks are so underrated.

Textbooks are the most readable scholarly sources available to you. They are specifically designed to be read by undergraduates. The same thing can’t be said about other top-tier scholarly sources like journal articles (notoriously hard to read ), reports, and legislation.

Because textbooks are so readable, they should be a go-to scholarly source for developing a foundational understanding of a topic.

If you want to be able to explain a topic or concept well, textbooks are your best friends.

If you’re an on-campus student, I strongly recommend you head to the library and use your library catalog to find the most relevant scholarly literature – and especially textbooks – in your course’s subject area. Type in keywords from your course title and related phrases to find the textbooks that link to the course content.

Go to the library early and check out the books you think you’ll need. The key is to go early – earlier than all your peers!

There are only a limited number of textbooks in the library, and you want to be one of the few students who get their hands on one.

If you’re an online student or you are an on-campus student who missed out on one of the library copies, the best bet is to seek out an e-book.

E-book versions of textbooks are just as high quality and worth citing in your assignment.

Universities are rapidly moving towards having more e-books than hard copies, meaning chances are getting higher and higher that you’ll get access to that e-book you need.

Jump onto your university library catalog from home and search for keyphrases relevant to your topic. You may find some good quality e-books that will work as a treat for your assignment.

One more benefit of e-books is that they’re easy to search through.

If you’re looking through a whole textbook for just one key idea, e-books make it easy for you to search for instances of an exact term or phrase so you can go straight to the relevant paragraphs – no wasting time!

Tip: Textbook Rentals You might also want to look into Student Textbook Rentals to save money while still accessing quality scholarly sources.

3. A New Journal Article

Nothing beats a journal article for a scholarly source.

That’s because they’ve been through what we call the ‘peer review process.

In other words, experts on the topic have read the article and approved it as a credible and reliable scholarly article worthy of publication. It must be an accurate and rigorous piece of work to be published in a journal!

How Many Journal Articles Should I Cite? I recommend always citing a high number of scholarly journal articles. I try to aim for journal articles for at least 50% of my references in my reference list.

Something to keep in mind about journal articles is that newer articles are always better.

Aim to cite journal articles that were published within the past 10 years. That said, I often accept a few articles that are a bit older from my students so long as the majority of articles they cite are quite new.

Tip: The Google Scholar ‘Cited by’ Button

One way to find newer articles is to use Google Scholar’s ‘cited by’ button .

Sometimes you find a really good, relevant article but it’s really out of date. To find newer articles on the same topic, you can click the ‘cited by’ button. Up will pop all the scholarly literature that has referred to that old article.

By their very nature, all ‘cited by’ articles will be newer than the one you were reading, and a large number of them will likely be on the same topic.

This method is therefore very useful for making sure you a) follow the paper trail to find new articles on a topic, and b) find a wide range of academic up-to-date articles that you can cite.

4. Assigned Readings from Previous Subjects

This is an untapped gold mine.

Remember that subject you did two years ago that was a bit like the one you’re doing now? Did it talk about similar ideas or theorists?

If you’re smart, you kept a folder on your computer with all your documents from that subject.

Now’s the time to dig through assigned readings from similar courses you took previously and see if any of the readings from those old subjects are useful scholarly sources that you can cite in your current paper.

Something nice about citing previously assigned readings is that they’re readings that have been provided for you by academics in your teacher’s faculty specifically because they thought the articles were quite good.

In other words, one of your teachers has pre-approved it so you know it’s good!

Another good thing about citing previously assigned readings is that you’ve likely read them before, so they shouldn’t be too hard to re-read. You might also already have notes written in the margins of those journal articles or a document of notes on those articles saved on your computer.

Furthermore, especially in cohort-based degrees, the teachers will be aware that you’re linking ideas from previous courses you studied into your current course. This is a good look: it means you’re engaged, making connections between ideas, and on your way to the top of the class!

Avoid Self-Plagiarism One thing to keep in mind is that while you’re picking through old notes or articles that might be relevant, make sure you don’t accidentally copy and paste text from old assignments into new assignments . Self-plagiarism is something universities are really cracking down on. Personally, I think it’s a load of Bollocks … how can you steal information from yourself!? But, nonetheless, beware of re-submitting previous work.

Additional Sources that are OK to Cite

5. a government or non-profit report.

Government reports can be great sources if used right.

They’re also really easy to find. They are usually freely available on government and non-profit websites and are accessible through a quick google search.

The trick is to critique government and non-reports, rather than cite them as unquestionable authorities on a topic. Often students assume that because the report is from a government website it’s ‘the truth’.

Remember, governments have agendas.

Conservative governments write reports that “confirm” their point of view. Progressive governments write reports that “confirm” their point of view. There’s always someone at the top commissioning reports that have pre-ordained answers.

Nonetheless, government reports are great to reference. They show how you’re linking ideas to ‘policy’ and ‘real life’. Discussing and analyzing government responses to issues can get you great marks.

Tip: Using Government Reports

Use government reports to show you’ve linked your ideas to real life. But, ensure you critique government documents rather than treating them as the authoritative truth on a topic.

Non-Profits and independent research groups also often have their own agendas but can produce some excellent reports on issues.

If Amnesty International is producing a report, you can bet that it’s going to be skewed towards picking out and highlighting refugee abuses, immigrant rights or issues in developing nations.

That’s not necessarily a bad thing but remember: they’ve got an agenda and they will therefore highlight information that reinforces their own agenda.

An example of very well-respected government reports is the UN’s IPCC reports. These reports on climate change reflect many respected scientists’ reflections on issues and would almost be a must to mention in an article on climate change.

Similarly, government policies on healthcare, education, transportation, agriculture, and so on are all worth discussing and look great in assignments.

Here are some tips when discussing government and non-profit reports:

• Critique them – examine whether they are backed by other scholarly information you found on Google Scholar or your university library catalog;
• Discuss their agenda – what is the political skew of the report? What are the political stripes of the government or organization that released it?
• Find alternative perspectives – is the report challenged by others? What academics or interest groups disagree with the government or non-profit’s findings?

If you keep that active, critical thinking in mind, feel free to use reports from governments or non-profits. They can help you to boost your marks and show your understanding of how research influences policy.

6. A News Report. Seriously!

News reports are not academic texts. They should not be used to present research-based information.

However, news sources like Forbes and The Guardian are great to use for linking your essay’s concepts to current affairs.

All good essays should use examples to show your understanding of a topic and its links to real life. One of the best ways to do this is to reference recent news reports on a topic.

The trick here is to:

• Firstly, reference a journal article or textbook on the topic. When explaining the key idea, don’t use a news report. Use a journal article or textbook as your source to explain any idea.
• Then, as your second reference in the paragraph, cite the news report. When it comes time to discuss an example of the topic, you can start your sentence with a simple phrase like: “This idea was recently put into action in …” and reference the news reports at the end of the sentence.

One more place to include a news report is in the introduction of an essay as a hook to engage the reader . Starting an essay with “In a recent news report, …” can engage the reader and show them why a topic is worth discussing.

Remember: Like government reports, the key is to critique news articles , not treat them like authoritative texts.

7. Fake News. Really!

Yes, it can be impressive to reference fake news. As long as you actually show how and why it’s ‘Fake’.

If you manage to find information that is incorrect and has proven to be misleading, you might want to discuss it in your paper.

The reason you can do this and still look impressive is that this shows strong critical thinking skills .

Often, the difference between top students and average students is their ability to wow the teacher with their critical thinking. A student who finds instances of incorrect information and strongly debunks it shows that critical insight is required for top marks.

Tip: Fake News Exposing fake news can show your skills as a critical thinker.

So next time you’re struggling to think of a way of providing critical insights, find fake news, and then use real scholarly information from journal articles or textbooks to debunk it – your teacher is likely to be very impressed!

All the top students have mastered the skill of referencing very high-quality scholarly sources in their papers.

Your set readings, textbooks, and journal articles should form the core line-up for any good paper.

With those three types of sources as your foundation, you’ll start building your marks and moving to the top of the class.

Action Tip Aim to reference a set reading, textbook or journal article in each paragraph of your next paper. Make sure you’re seeking out some of these textbooks and journal articles independently using your university’s library catalogue or google scholar.

Once you’ve got those foundations right, start being more adventurous.

Using government, non-profit reports, and news reports can be great if you actively critique them and relate them back to the scholarly literature on the topic: are these ideas supported by independent scholarly research or do they seem biased or untrue?

To sum up, let’s go through our seven impressive sources to cite in your next paper:

7 Best Sources to Cite in Your Essays

• Your Set Readings
• A Library Textbook
• A New Journal Article
• Assigned Readings from Previous Subjects
• A Government or Non-Profit Report – Critique it
• A News Report. Seriously! – Critique it
• Fake News. Really! – Critique it

This article is part of a four-part series on explaining exactly what a scholarly source is. You might also like:

• How to find Scholarly Articles for Free Online ;
• Seven Bad Essay Sources You’ve Probably Cited; and
• How to use Google Scholar to Find Scholarly Sources

Chris Drew (PhD)

Dr. Chris Drew is the founder of the Helpful Professor. He holds a PhD in education and has published over 20 articles in scholarly journals. He is the former editor of the Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education. [Image Descriptor: Photo of Chris]

• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ 5 Top Tips for Succeeding at University
• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ 50 Durable Goods Examples
• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ 100 Consumer Goods Examples
• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ 30 Globalization Pros and Cons

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Guest Essay

Is This the End of Academic Freedom?

By Paula Chakravartty and Vasuki Nesiah

Dr. Chakravartty is a professor of media, communication and culture at New York University, where Dr. Nesiah is a professor of practice in human rights and international law.

​At New York University, the spring semester began with a poetry reading. Students and faculty gathered in the atrium of Bobst Library. At that time, about 26,000 Palestinians had already been killed in Israel’s horrific war on Gaza; the reading was a collective act of bearing witness.

The last poem read aloud was titled “If I Must Die.” It was written, hauntingly, by a Palestinian poet and academic named Refaat Alareer who was killed weeks earlier by an Israeli airstrike. The poem ends: “If I must die, let it bring hope — let it be a tale.”

Soon after those lines were recited, the university administration shut the reading down . Afterward, we learned that students and faculty members were called into disciplinary meetings for participating in this apparently “disruptive” act; written warnings were issued.

We have both taught at N.Y.U. for over a decade and believe we are in a moment of unparalleled repression. Over the past six months, since the start of Israel’s war on Gaza, we have seen the university administration fail to adequately protect dissent on campus, actively squelching it instead. We believe what we are witnessing in response to student, staff and faculty opposition to the war violates the very foundations of academic freedom.

While N.Y.U. says that it remains committed to free expression on campus and that its rules about and approach to protest activity haven’t changed, students and faculty members in solidarity with the Palestinian people have found the campus environment alarmingly constrained.

About a week after Hamas’s attacks in October, the Grand Staircase in the Kimmel student center, a storied site of student protests , closed indefinitely; it has yet to reopen fully. A graduate student employee was reprimanded for putting up fliers in support of Palestinians on the student’s office door and ultimately took them down; that person is not the only N.Y.U. student to face some form of disciplinary consequence for pro-Palestinian speech or action. A resolution calling for the university to reaffirm protection of pro-Palestinian speech and civic activity on campus, passed by the elected Student Government Assembly in December, has apparently been stuck in a procedural black hole since.

The New York Police Department has become a pervasive presence on campus, with over 6,000 hours of officer presence added after the war broke out. Hundreds of faculty members have signed onto an open letter condemning the university’s “culture of fear about campus speech and activism.”

Such draconian interventions are direct threats to academic freedom.

At universities across the country, any criticism of Israel’s policies, expressions of solidarity with Palestinians, organized calls for a cease-fire or even pedagogy on the recent history of the land have all emerged as perilous speech. In a letter to university presidents in November, the A.C.L.U. expressed concern about “impermissible chilling of free speech and association on campus” in relation to pro-Palestinian student groups and views; since then, the atmosphere at colleges has become downright McCarthyite .

The donors, trustees, administrators and third parties who oppose pro-Palestinian speech seem to equate any criticism of the State of Israel — an occupying power under international law and one accused of committing war crimes — with antisemitism. To them, the norms of free speech are inherently problematic, and a broad definition of antisemitism is a tool for censorship . Outside funding has poured into horrifying doxxing and harassment campaigns. Pro-Israel surveillance groups like Canary Mission and CAMERA relentlessly target individuals and groups deemed antisemitic or critical of Israel. Ominous threats follow faculty and students for just expressing their opinions or living out their values.

To be clear, we abhor all expressions of antisemitism and wholeheartedly reject any role for antisemitism on our campuses. Equally, we believe that conflating criticism of Israel or Zionism with antisemitism is dangerous. Equating the criticism of any nation with inherent racism endangers basic democratic freedoms on and off campus. As the A.C.L.U. wrote in its November statement, a university “cannot fulfill its mission as a forum for vigorous debate” if it polices the views of faculty members and students, however much any of us may disagree with them or find them offensive.

In a wave of crackdowns on pro-Palestinian speech nationwide, students have had scholarships revoked, job offers pulled and student groups suspended. At Columbia, protesters have reported being sprayed by what they said was skunk, a chemical weapon used by the Israeli military; at Northwestern, two Black students faced criminal charges , later dropped, for publishing a pro-Palestinian newspaper parody; at Cornell, students were arrested during a peaceful protest . In a shocking episode of violence last fall, three Palestinian students , two of them wearing kaffiyehs, were shot while walking near the University of Vermont.

Many more cases of student repression on campuses are unfolding.

Academic freedom, as defined by the American Association of University Professors in the mid-20th century , provides protection for the pursuit of knowledge by faculty members, whose job is to educate, learn and research both inside and outside the academy. Not only does this resonate with the Constitution’s free speech protections ; international human rights law also affirms the centrality of academic freedom to the right to education and the institutional autonomy of educational institutions.

Across the United States, attacks on free speech are on the rise . In recent years, right-wing groups opposed to the teaching of critical race theory have tried to undermine these principles through measures including restrictions on the discussion of history and structural racism in curriculums, heightened scrutiny of lectures and courses that are seen to promote dissent and disciplinary procedures against academics who work on these topics.

What people may not realize is that speech critical of Israel’s occupation and apartheid policies has long been censored, posing persistent challenges to those of us who uphold academic freedom. Well before Oct. 7, speech and action at N.Y.U. in support of Palestinians faced intense and undue scrutiny.

Our students are heeding Refaat Alareer’s call to bear witness. They are speaking out — writing statements, organizing protests and responding to a plausible threat of genocide with idealism and conviction. As faculty members, we believe that college should be a time when students are encouraged to ask big questions about justice and the future of humanity and to pursue answers however disquieting to the powerful.

Universities must be places where students have access to specialized knowledge that shapes contemporary debates, where faculty members are encouraged to be public intellectuals, even when, or perhaps especially when, they are expressing dissenting opinions speaking truth to power. Classrooms must allow for contextual learning, where rapidly mutating current events are put into a longer historical timeline.

This is a high-stakes moment. A century ago, attacks on open discussion of European antisemitism, the criminalization of dissent and the denial of Jewish histories of oppression and dispossession helped create the conditions for the Holocaust. One crucial “never again” lesson from that period is that the thought police can be dangerous. They can render vulnerable communities targets of oppression. They can convince the world that some lives are not as valuable as others, justifying mass slaughter.

It is no wonder that students across the country are protesting an unpopular and brutal war that, besides Israel, only the United States is capable of stopping. It is extraordinary that the very institutions that ought to safeguard their exercise of free speech are instead escalating surveillance and policing, working on ever more restrictive student conduct rules and essentially risking the death of academic freedom.

From the Vietnam War to apartheid South Africa, universities have been important places for open discussion and disagreement about government policies, the historical record, structural racism and settler colonialism. They have also long served as sites of protest. If the university cannot serve as an arena for such freedoms, the possibilities of democratic life inside and outside the university gates are not only impoverished but under threat of extinction.

Paula Chakravartty is a professor of media, communication and culture at New York University, where Vasuki Nesiah is a professor of practice in human rights and international law. Both are members of the executive committee of the N.Y.U. chapter of the American Association of University Professors and members of N.Y.U.’s Faculty for Justice in Palestine.

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She used Grammarly to proofread her paper. Now she's accused of 'unintentionally cheating.'

Whatever my school's rule is on artificial intelligence, i will abide by it. but the concern over grammarly makes me think of the debate over calculator use in schools from the 1970s..

Grammarly , the company that provides the eponymous grammar and syntax program, recently announced that it’s getting smarter and now offers “strategic suggestions” for its  30 million users . It might not be an innovation that helps the company.

As Grammarly gains more generative capabilities, its usefulness for students declines because it will place them at risk for unnecessary academic discipline. 

In a story that’s gone viral, University of North Georgia student Marley Stevens ended up on academic probation for using Grammarly on her criminal justice essay. Stevens said her professor accused her of “unintentionally cheating” on her academic work because she used the program to proofread her paper.

Stevens received a zero for the assignment, which she said put her scholarship at risk. Under Stevens’ TikTok video , comments indicated that she’s not the only student who’s been penalized for Grammarly use. 

Stevens’ case shows the murkier world of using artificial intelligence in schools – using it as an aid, a resource, rather than a replacement for one’s work. Until now, discussions of AI’s use in academics focused on its potential for plagiarism, the act of simply representing an AI product as one’s own work, which is admittedly indefensible.  Researchers from Stanford University say that concern is overblown. 

At my school, Deerfield Academy in Massachusetts, the use of generative AI is prohibited .

What's considered cheating may depend on your school

Grammarly hasn’t been necessarily generative in the ways we think of that type of intelligence; it couldn’t write a student’s essay like ChatGPT can. But now the “ strategic suggestions ” make the program more generative in nature – and more likely to fall under general AI bans. 

Here’s the rub, though: Many schools encourage and even pay for students to use Grammarly. It's expressly promoted in at least 3,000 educational institutions that have signed up for institutional accounts, according to Grammarly .

In Stevens’ case, the University of North Georgia promoted Grammarly on its website then removed it , then placed it on its website again. 

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While individual schools should be allowed to create their own policies, we are headed for a situation where what’s considered cheating is allowed at one school and not at another. Or in one course and not another.

That’s a problem because academic integrity is universal. Or at least it’s supposed to be. 

Whatever the rule is on using Grammarly, I will abide by it, but I notice that the concern over the type of assistance Grammarly provides hearkens back to the debate over calculator use in schools.

How is Grammarly different from a calculator – or autocorrect?

Back in the 1970s, some educators and parents worried that calculators might supplant math lessons . Research shows that they never did. It took 50 years, but with calculators now required in some courses and tests, we know that assistive technology doesn’t necessarily replace basic lessons – or do our work for us. 

We now prioritize agility of thought and creativity over memorization; that’s why some schools rid themselves of  spelling tests  in favor of critical thinking. 

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If anything, these devices and programs allow deeper learning, mostly because they’re used by students who are well past the age of initial math functions and grammar lessons. If anything, Grammarly is a refresher on grammar lessons of years past. 

Technically, autocorrect is a form of AI , but holding its use against a student whose typos were fixed would be overkill and defeat the purpose of these programs, which were created to meet the needs of education’s evolution. 

Whether using Grammarly constitutes cheating is a multibillion dollar question that remains unanswered; it's an ethical question that intersects with school finance. Use of Grammarly might cause students to lose scholarships, and schools don’t refund tuition if a student is expelled and that student may owe student loans. On top of that are the opportunity costs of being accused of cheating.

Marley Stevens’ fight wages on, but Grammarly donated $4,000 to her GoFundMe to assist her education. 

Beyond Stevens’ case, though, technology companies that provide programs to students need to consider how making their products more generative will create more problems for students who use them. And teachers and schools that ban these programs need to consider what kind of learning they want from students.  

Ultimately – in all areas, not just education – AI is a case of making sure our technology does not outpace our integrity or call into question honest work. Otherwise, we all may be cheating. Or worse, not learning as much as we can.

William Tang is a high school junior at Deerfield Academy and serves on the school’s Honor Committee.