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Evaluating Sources: Scholarly vs. Non-Scholarly Sources

This guide will assist you in evaluating sources for their currency, relevancy, authority, accuracy, and purpose. It also has information on how to distinguish a scholarly source from non-scholarly sources.

Scholarly Journals vs. Popular Publications

A scholarly article....

  • Is written by experts
  • Is written to communicate with peers
  • Is published in a scholarly journal
  • Is typically either reviewed by peers or by an editor prior to publication
    • Peer review - involves a comprehensive review process by other experts in the field (see the next tab in this guide)
    • Editor review - review of the article is done only by the editor(s) of a journal
  • Includes citations for sources

Professional or trade journals...

  • Are written by practicing professionals
  • Often discuss trends in a particular field
  • Include trade-specific advertisements
  • Examples: Harvard Business Review, Monitor on Psychology, Maximum PC

Magazines and newspapers...

  • Are often written by journalists or professional writers
  • Use language easily understood by general readers
  • Rarely give citations for sources
  • Tend to be shorter than scholarly journal articles
  • Examples: Time Magazine, The Atlantic, The New York Times, The Washington Post