Biography and Profiles Research Guide - Longview

Ways to help determine if a source is scholarly:

• Is the author a recognized expert on the topic? What are the author’s credentials? Scholarly authors typically have  degrees in their field.
• Do you see citations or footnotes throughout the text and references after each chapter or at the end of the book or article? 
• Do you see a lot of jargon, or subject-specific words or acronyms, being used often without any explanation of their meaning?  Scholarly books are written by scholars for their peers in the field who already know these terms.
• Is it peer-reviewed?

What does Peer-Reviewed mean?

A peer-reviewed article has been read, evaluated, and approved for publication by scholars with expertise and knowledge related to the article’s contents. Peer-reviewing helps insure that articles provide accurate, verifiable, and valuable contributions to a field of study.

Who? Is there a named author? Is the author an expert in the subject matter? Are they affiliated with a reputable organization?  (credibility/credentials)

Why? Is the article written to inform, entertain, or persuade? What is the author trying achieve? What voices or stories are missing from the discussion? Look for evidence of bias in every article you read. Beware of loaded language. (bias & purpose)

How? Do the authors cite their sources? Do they present appropriate evidence to back their claims? Do they leave anything out? (credibility/credentials)

What? Does the topic of the article relate to your research topic? An article can be valuable even if it only discusses part of your topic. Remember as a researcher you should not ignore articles that you disagree with. (bias)

When? Does the date of the article make sense compared to how fast your subject area changes? (timeliness)