Your lecturers will ask you to use academic (scholarly) sources in your assignments. But what do they mean by "scholarly"? How can you tell if a publication is scholarly or not?
You may be asked to use peer-reviewed journals to find information for your assignment. So what is peer-review?
|
Popular |
|
Scholarly |
|
Inform / entertain / general audience |
Intention |
Present / report original research |
|
Usually colourful and attractive; lots of illustrations and photographs |
Appearance |
Contains fewer photographs. May have technical charts and graphs |
|
Short articles including generalised overview of topics Useful as introductory background reading
|
Scope |
Longer articles covering a specific topic in depth. Usually, includes abstract (summary) of the article. |
|
Non-technical. Can include definitions of terms presumed unfamiliar to the lector |
Language |
Technical language specific to the field covered by the article (jargon) |
|
Journalists with no specialist knowledge of the subject. Credentials are rarely given |
Authors |
Authors' credentials as an expert are explicitly presented, usually on the first page |
|
Background reading and interviews are the main research |
Research |
Presents the results of original research |
|
Rarely cites sources |
References |
Articles are rigorously referenced with all sources cited. Usually contains footnotes and bibliography. |
|
Articles are approved for publication by the editor |
Peer Review |
Articles approved for publication after review by the author's scholarly peers |
Adapted from James Cook University. (2011, November 3).Evaluating Sources.Retrieved November 3,2011, from JCU Library Guide:http://libguides.jcu.edu.au/content.php?pid=62895&sid=463437
