Often your history instructor will tell you that your sources must be scholarly rather than popular. What does that mean, and how can you tell the difference?
Scholarly Articles/Journals
- Are written by and for faculty, researchers or scholars
- Use scholarly or technical language
- Tend to be longer articles about specific research
- Include full citations for sources
- Are peer reviewed or refereed (articles are reviewed by an editor and other scholars in the field before being published)
- Book reviews and editorials are not considered scholarly articles, even when found in scholarly journals
- However, remember that book reviews can point you to useful secondary-source books!
Examples:
Popular Articles/Magazines
- Are often written by journalists or professional writers for a general audience
- Use language easily understood by general readers
- Articles not evaluated by experts in the field but by editors on the staff
- Rarely give full citations for sources
- Shorter articles giving a broader overview of topics
- Newspapers are considered as popular magazines
Examples:
Historians commonly use popular magazines and newspapers as PRIMARY SOURCES
rather than as secondary sources.
adapted and used with permission from the University of Arizona Library
http://www.library.arizona.edu/help/tutorials/scholarly/guide.html
