Scholarly Articles as Sources
Ohio State University Libraries Teaching & Learning and Claire Nickerson
Articles in scholarly journals are valued for several reasons. First, they are usually trustworthy because their publication process includes a peer review that helps ensure their accuracy and contribution to their disciplines. In addition, they often contain the first reports of new research, which makes their sections on methodology, data, analysis, and interpretation primary sources. Sometimes they instead consist of literature reviews, which are summaries of multiple research studies done in the past on particular subjects of current interest. That makes those articles very helpful secondary sources.
Peer-Reviewed Sources
Most scholarly journals are peer reviewed, which means that experts in their field other than the author and editor check out each article before it can be published. The feedback they provide has to be implemented before the articles is published. It’s their responsibility to help guarantee that new material is presented in the context of what is already known, that the methods the researcher used are the right ones, and that the article contributes to the field.
For those reasons, peer-reviewed articles are more likely to be credible. Peer-reviewed journal articles are the official scholarly record, which means that if it’s an important development in research, it will probably turn up in a journal article eventually. There are some other types of information resources that can also be peer reviewed, such as conference proceedings (articles that were presented at a conference instead of published in a journal) and monographs (books published by scholarly publishing houses).
Here’s a longer explanation of the peer review process ⧉, which concludes that it is good but not perfect. Keep in mind that peer review is a time-consuming process, so if you want information about current events or very recent developments, you might be better off with other types of sources, such as newspaper articles.
Parts of a Scholarly Article
The articles you use for your assignments must also be relevant to your research question—not just credible. Reading specific parts of an article can help save you time as you decide whether an article is relevant.
Movie: Guided Tour of Scholarly Articles
Reading a scholarly article usually takes some effort, because they are almost always at least fifteen pages long. If you find a shorter segment in a scholarly journal, it may be an editorial or book review, both of which are opinion based and may or may not be peer reviewed depending on the journal’s policy. Different scholars advocate different approaches to reading scholarly articles. If you are a fast reader, or reading things out of order bothers you, you may opt to read directly from beginning to end. Or, you may choose to jump around. Here are two potential recommended reading orders:
- Raff, J. (2018, January 3). How to read and understand a scientific article [PDF] ⧉. Violent Metaphors. https://violentmetaphors.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/how-to-read-and-understand-a-scientific-article.pdf
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Forsyth Library (Director). (2021). Reading Research Articles [Video recording] ⧉. Fort Hays State University Forsyth Library. https://fhsu.hosted.panopto.com/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=5699a739-e483-4eda-bb57-b31d00eb8a74
Activity: Parts of a Scholarly Article
Finding Scholarly Articles
Most scholarly articles are housed in specialized databases. Libraries (public, school, or company) often provide access to scholarly databases by paying a subscription fee for patrons. You can search for a journal title in these databases or view a list of databases by subject. There is also a growing movement toward open-access journals, which provide free online access to the articles they publish. For more information, including how to search databases, see Specialized Databases.
Databases that aren’t subject-specific are called general databases. Google Scholar is a free general scholarly database available to all who have access to the Internet and it provides some scholarly articles. For more information, see our section on using Google Scholar.
Identifying Scholarly Articles
Not sure if an article is scholarly? Look for the following signposts:
- The first page of the PDF lists authors’ degrees (e.g. Ph.D) and affiliations (where they work).
- The article starts with an abstract, a short summary of its contents.
- The article contains standard headings, such as Introduction, Literature Review, Methods, Results, Discussion, and Conclusion.
- The article ends with references or a bibliography.
- The article is at least 10 pages long.
- The website for the journal in which the article was published talks about the peer review process.
A brief summary of what a journal article is about and a quick read in order to decide whether the article is likely to contain information relevant to your research project. The abstract may appear in research databases and, sometimes, in the article itself.
A standalone or section of a scholarly paper that surveys existing research and arguments on a topic.
Section of a scholarly journal article that describes how the authors collected their data. Also called "methodology."
A list of works, such as articles or books, about a specific subject. A bibliography may stand alone or come at the end of another work.
Publications that come out periodically (usually quarterly) and most often contain some commentary, reviews of scholarly books, and scholarly research articles that report new research or reviews of previous scholarly research. The reviews of previous research are called literature reviews and, along with the reports of new research, are generally the only scholarly portions of journals and the only portions that get peer reviewed. Many, but not all, journals are peer reviewed, which means that experts in the field assess the scholarship and contributions made by submitted research articles and suggest corrections before the journal will be willing to publish them. Each journal tends to be focused on a specific discipline or sub-discipline. Sometimes professional associations make the journals they publish available to their members. But most journals are very expensive, and for many scholars, it is libraries that make them available. While journals used to be print publications, today most are digital-only publications.
A pre-publication review provided by experts other than the author of a research or literature review article and the editor of the research journal to which the article has been submitted for publication. The experts assess the article, including making sure the article is presented in the context of what is already known, that the methods the researcher used are the right ones, and that the article contributes to the field by reporting new and important content. Based on that assessment, the editor may accept the article or turn it down for publication. If it is accepted, the author is usually asked to make changes. Peer review increases the credibility of many scholarly articles
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