MCC provides databases that can be searched to uncover many articles on any given topic. Instructors may require students to use scholarly or peer-reviewed articles from these databases as part of, or all of the research for an assignment.
The University of Toronto Libraries offers this explanation to dispel any confusion about scholarly and peer-reviewed articles: "Scholarly sources are written by academics and other experts and contribute to knowledge in a particular field by sharing new research findings, theories, analyses, insights, news, or summaries of current knowledge.
Scholarly sources can be either primary or secondary research. They can also come in many different formats. Books, articles, and websites can all be scholarly. Remember, there is sometimes a difference between scholarly and peer-reviewed articles; all peer-reviewed sources are scholarly, but not all scholarly sources are peer-reviewed."
MCC scholarly databases include:
Still, popular articles from magazines and encyclopedias can be a great place to gain an understanding of a topic and to become familiar with the vocabulary used to describe it, in effect, to jumpstart your research. For general articles, don't use the peer-reviewed option as you search an MCC database. (The exception to this is JSTOR.)