Your professor may instruct you to use scholarly journals. What are these and where can you find them?
Scholarly journals -- also called academic, peer-reviewed, or refereed journals -- are the places where new research and insights are published in a given field of study.
Scholars and researchers submit articles to journals to be reviewed by a group of their peers. Those articles that are deemed the most relevant are chosen for publication.
Articles in scholarly publication include extensive references and may report the outcomes of original research or experiments.
You can learn more about databases for finding articles on the Searching Tab.
Confused about what sources to use or where to start looking? Use this page as a jumping off point for your research!
Some topics are best suited to book research, while other subject areas rely more heavily on journals. Read below to see what works best for you.
| Resource Name | Resource Characteristics |
| Books |
In-depth Can provide introduction to topic (broad in focus) Organized with chapters on sub-topics |
|
Journals aka: Periodicals, Articles, Etc. |
Narrow in focus Shorter than books Often based on original research or reviews of research Published periodically (monthly, quarterly, etc.) Up-to-date |
| Reference |
Provide quick facts and basic information Includes works like dictionaries, encyclopedias, etc. Source of background information; starting point for research |
| News sources |
Can be very broad (daily newspapers) or narrow in focus (trade journals or professional news updates) Cover current events Often reliable but less "scholarly" than other sources |