Scholarly information is created by scholars for scholars in order to:
The process of generating scholarly information (also known as academic research) is equally as important as the final product. Scholarly information is presented in a certain way to make this process transparent to other scholars.
Popular information, like magazines and newspaper articles that sit by the cash register at Walmart, is written for the general public rather than scholarly audiences.
Peer review is the evaluation of a scholar's manuscript or work by other scholars within the same field to determine whether it is worthy of publication. Peer review draws on the expertise of other to strengthen the research that adds to the academic conversation. Published peer-reviewed papers and journal articles meet standards of quality, accuracy, trustworthiness, and contribution to the field of study.
Scholarly articles go through a peer review process, whereas popular information does not.
| Scholarly Information | Popular Information | |
|---|---|---|
|
Audience |
Written for specialists in the field with technical, scholarly, and subject-specific language | Written for the general public; language is clear, simple, and direct |
| Purpose | To critically assess and potentially challenge existing knowledge, report new research findings, and/or propose innovative solutions or emerging issues in the field | To entertain, advertise, express opinions and commentary, provide superficial knowledge on a topic for a general audience, and/or make a profit |
| Author | Written by subject-matter experts and includes credentials, contact information, and organizational affiliations | Written by writers, columnists, bloggers, etc. Articles may be short and unsigned; when signed, the author's credentials are usually missing |
| Appearance | Charts, graphs, tables, and visuals to present data | Often illustrated with photographs; online versions often have videos |
| Citations | Thorough in-text citations, footnotes, and references | Often no citations, footnotes, references, or bibliographies. Online versions may include hyperlinks to advertisements or other sites |
| Evaluation | Articles undergo a rigorous peer-review process by several subject experts. They are often proofread and copyedited | Articles are proofread and copyedited |
| Advertising | If present, advertising focuses on publishing, professional societies, and conferences tied to the journal topic | Include advertisements for commercial products of all kinds |
Reading a scholarly sourceScholarly sources, also called scholarly articles or peer-reviewed articles, are a type of source you will encounter during college-level research. They are written by experts in the field and undergo review by other experts, known as peer-review.
However, scholarly sources can be daunting to read. Here are some tips for reading scholarly articles.
The abstract is a summary of the article that gives you a general idea of what the authors are trying to accomplish. Reading the abstract should give you an idea of whether the article is going to be helpful for your research. If the abstract is too complex or technical, that is an indication for what the rest of the article will be like. If you can't understand the abstract at all, then it may not be the right resource for you.
It's okay to skip around while reading an academic article! The conclusion usually includes information about major findings and why the author thinks they're important. By reading the conclusion, you can verify that the impression you got from the abstract is correct and check that the article is actually relevant for your research question.
If you find that the abstract and conclusion are relevant to your research topic, go ahead and read the rest of the article.
The methods section will help you understand how the author conducted their research, including how they gathered their data and why they chose that method. Reviewing a paper's methods can give you a deeper understanding of how the authors got their results and will put their findings into a better context.
The results section (sometimes called discussion) provides more specific details about what the authors found. This includes descriptions of overall results and the corresponding data. Important or notable findings may be pulled out in tables, figures, or graphics to help you understand the data. Reading the results section will give you the full breadth of the research findings, not just the highlights you saw in the conclusion.
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