Scholarly writing or academic scholarship tends to come from people (like your professors) producing knowledge and engaging in conversation with fellow scholars in their field. This work may be published in academic journals, as a book, a chapter in an edited volume, or an online publication.
Learn to recognize scholarly sources with the following criteria:
Remember- academic scholarship is only one type of information source. It isn't necessarily more credible or valid than other types of sources. Always be thinking critically about the author's methodologies and data analysis, and look for clear biases and political perspectives.
Let's look at the scholarly article below:
Look at the article assigned to your group. Analyze it by answering the following questions:
Group 1 'The Strain Of Censorship On Public Libraries
Group 2 Censorship and the Public Librarian
Group 3 Book Banning
Group 4 Cases of Censorship in Public Libraries: Loudoun County, VA.
The basic rules for evaluating a source for quality are the same as the "5 W's" of journalism: Who, What, When, Where, and Why.
Who produced the document, image, video, sound file, etc. and what do you know about them, their credentials, and their motives?
What is the factual or emotional content of the source and does it reflect reality?
When was it produced and does that time frame alter its potential usefulness?
Where was it published and does that publisher evaluate sources before publishing them? Does the place of publication reflect on the competence or impartiality of the source? Is this a re-publication and, if so, where was it originally published?
Why was the item produced and published? To educate? To influence? To sell something? To promote the creator?
Types of Articles You May Find in Education Journals
Types of Scholarly Articles:
Reports on empirical research, which may be quantitative, qualitative, or mixed.
Some examples include case studies,observational research (laboratory or naturalistic), surveys, experiments testing the relationship between variables, etc.
Theoretical articles that explore the history, philosophy, or other cultural expression of ideas relevant to an understanding of education.
Types of Non-scholarly Articles:
Personal perspectives, which may take the form of an essay, an editorial, a blog, or other undocumented genre.
Articles in newspapers and general interest magazines.
Interviews (these may be primary sources, but they are not documented research).
Practical advice or tips based on personal experience.
Letters to the editor.