Scholarly Secondary Sources

Academic (scholarly) writing seeks to clarify, explain, and extend concepts belonging to the topic and discipline.

Examples include

• scholarly monographs (books) 
• academic journal articles.

How can you tell if something is scholarly?

• Is the author an academic?

  • Are they employed at a university? Do they have a Ph.D.? If the source doesn't say, use Google.

• Are there lots of footnotes, endnotes, or references?

• Is it published by an academic press? (for books)

  • Often these contain the name of a university [Oxford University Press}, if not, use Google to find the press and read about their editorial board/policies.

• Is it published in a scholarly journal? (for articles)

  • Sometimes these contain the word "journal" in the title, if not use Google to check out the journal's website & editorial board.

If the answers are yes, you probably have a scholarly source--it's gone through a rigorous peer review process. If you are unsure, ask your professor or a librarian!

Anatomy of a Scholarly Article