What is a Scholarly Article?
Both scholarly and peer-reviewed articles are written by experts in academic or professional fields. Scholarly articles are published in journals for specific academic disciplines. Many scholarly journals are also peer-reviewed.
Peer-reviewed articles are submitted to reviewers who are experts in the field. Because the reviewers specialize in the same scholarly area as the author, they are considered the author’s peers (hence “peer review”).
Both scholarly and peer-reviewed articles are excellent places to find what has been studied or researched on a topic, as well as find references to additional relevant sources of information.
Types of Scholarly Articles
Types of Scholarly Articles
Original
An article that reports on original research such as an experiment, or analysis of data, a creative work, phenomena, or historical event.
Review
An article summarizing the results of many original articles investigating similar topics. May use analytic techniques such as meta-analysis to statistically compare data from multiple studies.
Tip #1 - Many scholarly journals, especially in the Humanities, also publish book reviews of scholarly books. These are not the same as review articles!
Theory
An article intended to contribute to the theoretical foundations of a field, providing explanations for phenomena and frameworks that can be used to guide the analysis of evidence.
Parts of a Scholarly Article
|
Abstract |
Brief summary of the article. |
| Introduction | States the topic, purpose, and argument of the article. |
| Methods | Mentions steps taken to support argument of the article. |
| Results/Findings | Shares results of the research. |
| Discussion | Analyzes and talks about the findings of the research. |
| Conclusion | Synthesizes the article's findings and argument. |
| References | List of cited sources. |
Reading Scholarly Articles
How To Read A Scholarly Article
Read The Abstract
The abstract will give you a general understanding of the article. Also, pay attention to the authors and their titles.
Read The Conclusion
The conclusion will summarize the author's findings including ways of improving the research.
Read The Introduction
The introduction will set up the layout of the article and the main argument of the article.
Tip #1: Highlight important ideas.
Read The First And Last Sentence Of Each Paragraph
The first and last sentence of each paragraph will give you a brief understanding of the discussion.
Tip #2: Take notes on the margins.
Read The Rest Of The Article
After getting a general idea of the article, read the entire article to get a full picture of the author's argument.
Tip #3: Repeat steps one and two.
Research Databases (for scholarly articles ... mostly)
- Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window
Multidisciplinary - good for nearly all subjects. Scholarly and trade journals, popular magazines, newspapers, conference proceedings, book reviews, and more.
- Humanities International Complete This link opens in a new window
Index to journals, books and reference sources in all humanities disciplines, as well as selected original creative works including poems, fiction, photographs, and illustrations, with some content available full-text.
- JSTOR This link opens in a new windowScholarly journal archive for the humanities, social sciences and natural sciences; current issues (usually the last 2-5 years) are not digitized by JSTOR and may be obtained elsewhere.
- MLA International Bibliography This link opens in a new window
Index to books, essays, and journal articles on modern languages, literatures, fiction, folklore and linguistics. Topics include literary theory, criticism, folk literature and belief systems, linguistics, semantics, translation, dramatic arts, and history of printing and publishing. Covers literature worldwide and includes materials in all genres and in foreign languages. Dates of Coverage: 1926 to date
- SocINDEX with Full Text This link opens in a new windowProvides full text of some journal articles, and indexing and abstracts for journals, books and conference papers. Covers all sub-fields of sociology, including criminology, gender, marriage & family studies, social work, social psychology, addictions, violence, and more. Covers scholarly publications in sociology, social work, and related fields. Contains 2.3 million articles and other materials (64% in full text) with deep coverage from 1960 and some back to 1882.
- Web of Science This link opens in a new window
Scholarly literature in the sciences, health and medicine, social sciences, arts, and humanities and proceedings of international conferences, symposia, seminars, colloquia, workshops, and conventions. Includes cited reference searching across many databases. Search all databases in Web of Science (includes Medline and BIOSIS, direct link for on-campus users). Dates of coverage: 1965 to present.
News & Newspapers
- New York Times (1851 - 2018) This link opens in a new window
Search by keywords or browse images of full pages by date.
- Independent Voices: An Open Access Collection of an Alternative Press This link opens in a new windowAlternative press & magazines, journals, newsletters, and newspapers; includes feminist publications, small literary magazines, LGBT periodicals, GI press, and campus underground sources. Dates of coverage: 1960s through 1980s
GOOGLE SCHOLAR
- Google ScholarSearch across many disciplines and sources: articles, theses, books, abstracts and court opinions, from academic publishers, professional societies, online repositories, and universities. Particularly useful for finding out who has cited the documents you’ve already identified!