Scholarly Sources

Scholarly articles, sometimes called peer-reviewed articles are the agreed-upon method of disseminating original research conducted by professors, scientists and other experts. Many college and university instructors expect students to model their writing style like peer-reviewed articles.

The Peer Review Process

A journal is a scholarly publication containing articles, letters to the editors and book reviews written by researchers, professors and other experts. They begun as print publications, similar to a magazine, but are mainly used electronically now. Journals focus on a specific discipline or field of study and are published on a regular basis (monthly, quarterly, etc.). The intended reading audience is other experts and not the general public. The authors are considered experts because they have PhDs and have specialized in-depth knowledge of current and past theories and years of training in research and analysis.

When a professor writes a research article, they will submit it to a peer-reviewed journal to be published. However, before the journal will accept the article, it will be reviewed by experts in the same area of study, hence, her peers. If her peers deem her research lacking validity, they will be asked to make changes or her article might be outright rejected. This is why assignments ask you to use articles published in peer-reviewed journals as they contain rigorous research and use a critical lens when picking what gets published.

It is also important to keep in mind that there are many theories or schools of thought within a discipline, and professors chose to conduct her research through one particular theory. An economics professor, for example, could write her article through a Marxist or a Neoliberal lens.  You need to develop an awareness of the different theories in your subject area as this will help you identify what lens the author is using to conduct their research. This is also important if an assignment requires sources from different theories or if you must support your thesis with sources from one particular theory.

Experts like professors often publish their evidence-based research in non-peer-reviewed sources like books and newspapers. These sources are still considered authoritative and contain expert research and are often reviewed by editors for accuracy, but they do not count as peer-reviewed sources. It is important to know the difference if your professor specifically requests that you use articles from peer-reviewed journals.

Flaws of Peer Reviewed Articles

The peer review process is the agreed-upon method for checking credibility in the academic world but it is not without its flaws. Articles with inaccurate research methods and, therefore, flawed conclusions have been published. However, thanks to the work of journalists and other diligent experts, these papers have been retracted and the research removed from the Journal. The work of researchers can also be funded by outside corporations and many journals insist that authors state their conflict of interest within their paper. If you come across an admission of conflict when reading an article, it will be up to you to evaluate whether or not you feel the research was influenced by the corporation’s own agenda.

Scholars write their findings as part of their work, but are not specifically paid for publishing. In fact, some journals require that authors pay a fee to be published, though some academic consider that unethical. Quality and quantity of scholarly publications are one of the methods research funders, academic employers, and even peers use to evaluate and judge each other. Peer reviewers are not paid for their time, nor is there a quality control process for the peer review process itself.

You also need to be vigilant when using Google to find peer-reviewed journals as there are non-credible journals parading themselves as peer-reviewed. Your library provides you with access to databases that contain authorized peer reviewed journals and filters out the non-credible ones. Overall, even though the peer review process works to evaluate research, you as the reader need to remain critical and conduct your own evaluation of what you are reading.

Despite all of these flaws, as mentioned above, scholarly articles remain one of the most respected types of writing among researchers, especially academic research. They can still be an excellent resource for specialized and complex studies. However, I think it’s important for us to be aware of who might not be represented in authorship such as junior scholars, the views of communities that aren’t represented in high proportions at academic institutions. There are a lot of publications about representation in the academy, publications, and citations. Some students and scholars even choose this matter as a field of research.

Methods for Finding Scholarly Articles

Once you know what a scholarly journal is, they’re actually easy to find. People conducting research as part of an academic institution (students, professors, staff, etc.) usually have access to a lot of journals. Online library databases will likely be your main method for finding scholarly articles. The amount of databases and stand alone journal subscriptions an institution has depends on how much research is conducted at an institution and how much funding they allocate to content. Still, it’s very common for libraries to lend print or electronic sources to each other and usually have a request form on their websites.

Here are some strategies for finding scholarly articles in library databases:

• Use the library homepage advanced search. This will give you broad access to a few databases. Choose the filter Peer Reviewed Journals. 
• Go to a subject specific database. Especially if you get lots of results. Only looking within a psychology publications database would be a useful method for mental health research, for example.
• Search on Google Scholar, if you have to pay for the article, get
• Search the Directory of Open Access Journals, which are articles that nobody has to pay for. This is a practice used by people promoting the free sharing of information and knowledge.

Examples of Scholarly Articles

What do you notice about the articles below? How are they different from blogs, documentaries, and typical online articles? What ideas for your own essay writing could be inspired by these examples?

• Dowdell, Elizabeth and Patricia Speck. “Trauma-Informed Care in Nursing Practice.” Nursing Continuing Professional Development, vol. 122, no 4, pp 30-38. April 2022. https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/-/media/nursing/documents/cni-documents/trauma-informed-care-in-nursing-practice.pdf
• Olson, Seth, et al. “The Influence of Anxiety on Response to Negative Sentiment Override Assessment Protocols During Couples Counseling.” Journal of Mental Health Counseling, vol. 43, no. 4, 2021, pp. 354–71, https://doi.org/10.17744/mehc.43.4.05.
• Haleem, Abid et al. “Understanding the Role of Digital Technologies in Education: A Review.” Sustainable Operations and Computers, volume 3, pp. 275-285. 2022. https://www-sciencedirect-com.bow.highline.edu/science/article/pii/S2666412722000137
  • The link is to the Highline Library webpage. Login is required.