How to find scholarly sources

HOWTO FIND
“SCHOLARLY
SOURCES”?

#1. Google is not your friend!
An Internet Search EngineWill ShowYou…
■ newspaper or magazine articles (written by professional writers who are not experts in
the subject matter, such as brain surgery or international politics),
■ commercial or activist web pages (written by people who are trying to sell you a thing
or an idea, and have no interest in giving you a balaced and accurate overview of a
complex issue),
■ instructional web pages or student projects (neither of which have been approved by
the peer review process)
■ spoof web pages that are posted by pranksters; or creative works that imitate
scholarly websites
■ SOME—but few-- perfectly acceptable scholarly sources (though most will be locked
behind paywalls; your library pays for access to these materials, so you won’t have to).
Jerz, D. G., (2011, Jan. 13) Research Essays: Evaluating Online Sources for Academic Papers, Jerz's LiteracyWeblog. Retrieved from
https://jerz.setonhill.edu/writing/academic1/research-essays-evaluating-online-sources/

However…
■ scholar.google.com is a specialty page that
gives prominence to resources
that look like academic articles.

When Google shows you a list of dozens or
hundreds of short, easy-to-read articles on
your topic, why does your instructor want
you to focus instead on the dry and out-of-
date scholarly work?
– Academic research, is not about looking up the right answer as quickly
as possible.
– Instead, scholarship — including your own scholarly work — is
about generating brand new knowledge. And doing that kind of
work takes time.

Is it Scholarly?
■ Did you find it by instructing a library
database to display only results from “peer
reviewed” publications?
Jerz, D. G., (2011, Jan. 13) Research Essays: Evaluating Online Sources for Academic Papers,
Jerz's LiteracyWeblog. Retrieved from https://jerz.setonhill.edu/writing/academic1/research-
essays-evaluating-online-sources/

Is it Scholarly?
■ Does the article conclude with a bibliography?
– You should go directly to the sources that were used.
– A list of “recommended links” or suggested titles for “further reading” is not
enough.
– Telltale signs it is a student paper (not a peer reviewed source)
■ Posted on a “.edu” website, but author’s title is omitted (nothing identifying the
author as an assistant professor, Ph.D. candidate, etc.).
■ URL includes a course number or title.
■ No links on the page.
■ Spelling mistakes, unsupported claims, or wordy introductions.
■ Garish colors; page titles such as “My Paper” or “New Page 1”

Snaderson, J., Frederick, E., Stocz, M. (2016)When
athlete activism clashes with group value: social identity
threat management via social media. Mass
Communication and Society.

Is it Scholarly?
■ Does the source specify the author, publisher, and date?
– A peer-reviewed academic source will always include this information. If you can’t
find all three, then you aren’t looking at a good academic source.
■ Does the source have a long, dry title?
– EXAMPLE: “Incidental Memory and Navigation in PanoramicVirtual Reality for
Electronic Commerce”
■ Academic articles like the one above are typically long, dry, and very specific.
– “AWorldWithout Landmines”
– Magazines and newspaper articles typically have short, snappy titles. If you are
writing a current events paper, or you need recent statistics, it may be defensible
to cite a news article published within the last few months.

Snaderson, J., Frederick, E.,
Stocz, M. (2016)When athlete
activism clashes with group
value: social identity threat
management via social media.
Mass Communication and Society.

Is it Scholarly?
■ Does the author support his or her argument by citing academic articles?
Snaderson, J., Frederick, E., Stocz,
M. (2016)When athlete activism
clashes with group value: social
identity threat management via
social media. Mass Communication
and Society.

What if I can’t find my topic?
■ You might find it hard to locate academic sources that examine current events, or the
latest developments on your topic.
– If so, you can quote from older studies of related topics, and connect the dots.
Point out where the conclusions of those earlier researchers did or did not predict the
issues that emerge when you examine the new technology.
– Where else in the world, and when else in history, has a similar thing happened
before?
– How does the situation you wish to examine compare to those other instances?

Does this mean current events are off-
limits as the topics of student papers?
■ NO! For current events, journalism is often the only source of information, so it’s
perfectly acceptable to use it. But there are different levels of journalism.
■ An article published in PC Gamer is not as credible as an article published in The
Washington Post.
■ AnTV interview with a senator is not as credible as a direct quotation from a bill the
senator is trying to pass.
■ A passage quoted in a review of a book is not as credible as the same passage quoted
from the book itself.

How to find scholarly sources

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