1. “Identifying Scholarly
Sources”
National History Day
September, 2012

2. Kinds of Information Sources
POPULAR VS. SCHOLARLY

3. Popular
Sources
Audience is the general public
Written by writers who may or
may not have specific training
in the subject
Purpose is to inform and
entertain or sell something
Language is simple and
understandable
Coverage is broad and
varied

4. Scholarly
Sources Written by experts or scholars in
a field
Audience is other experts and
scholars
Purpose is to communicate
research and ideas
Often contains specialized
vocabulary/technical language
Very narrow in scope and
subject coverage
Contains very few illustrations
and no advertisements

5. Finding Scholarly articles
Also known as academic, peer-reviewed, or refereed
 Articles published in academic journals
 Published by academics for an academic
audience
 Published by a recognized society with
academic goals and mission

6. To determine if an article is
scholarly…….
 Look at name of journal and publisher
 Has it undergone a process of peer-review?
 What is the length of the article?
 Advertisements? Illustrations?
 Does it contain references to other sources?
Are the citations clear and abundant?
 Who is the author? Are credentials given?
 Scan the abstract