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13 Scholarly Articles as Sources
Articles in scholarly journals are valued for several reasons. Because they are peer reviewed, there is a higher degree of accuracy and reliability. 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 summaries of multiple research studies done in the past on particular subjects of current interest. That makes those articles very helpful secondary sources.
(Note: Scholarly periodical sources also have what is called “reviews or review sources”, which is not the same as the idea or definition of a book review discussed earlier in this chapter. In the sciences, including the health sciences, “reviews or review sources” are academic and scholarly in that an author has compiled significant or seminal research on a particular phenomenon, issue, experiment, etc. written about by numerous academics. The purpose of this review is to assess these sources and to make recommendations about the efficacy about the research being done as per these sources. These reviews provide a more robust analysis than the literature review in any one article. The other definition for these types of reviews is that they do not document original research, experiments and therefore do not contain methodologies or results in and of themselves. Instead, these sources are secondary (as opposed to primary) because like literary criticism, they are sources written about the sources that contain original research, the primary sources.
Often, these review or review sources in the sciences and health sciences are more easily digestible for most general audiences (like you, the novice information researcher) who needs to locate a “scholarly” or academic source to use.
Peer-Reviewed Sources
The most-respected scholarly journals are peer-reviewed, which means that experts in their field other than the author and editor assess each article before it can be published. Peer reviewers help vet the new material presented in the context of what is already known, that the methodologies used are sound, 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.
Here’s a longer explanation of the peer review process, which the author concludes is good but not perfect.
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.
Most scholarly articles are housed in subscription databases. Libraries (public, academic, or special) often provide access to subscription databases by paying a cost so patrons have access to them, free-of-charge. For instance, the GHC Library provides access to over 40 databases via its A-Z Databases List that are made available free of charge to people affiliated with GHC. You can search for articles in these databases (containing both full-text or citation and abstract). For more information, including how to search databases, see Subscription Databases.
