Getting Started with Research Tutorials

What is a scholarly source?

You will need to use a variety of source types for your research assignments. You're probably familiar with popular sources, but you may not be familiar with scholarly sources. Learn how scholarly sources are different from popular sources and how to tell the difference.

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Finding Scholarly Articles

The best places to search for scholarly articles are the UNL Library Catalog and Library Databases.

Limit Your Search to Peer Reviewed Sources

Look for a checkbox that limits the search to peer reviewed journals or scholarly articles. This image shows where to limit a search to peer reviewed journals in the UNL Library catalog.

You can also limit a search to peer-reviewed journals using a subject-specific database. This image shows how to limit search results in Academic Search Premier, a key interdisciplinary database.

This image shows how to limit search results in ERIC (ProQuest), a key education database.

Keep in mind:

• Even after selecting the peer review filter, you must evaluate your results. 

• Peer reviewed journals publish things other than scholarly research articles, like book reviews and editorials.

Next Steps

Try finding scholarly journals in a database of your choice. Want to learn how to search the Library Catalog or a subject-specific database? Use our Step-by-Step tutorials.

Handouts

When conducting research it is important to distinguish between journal articles and magazine articles. Journal articles are typically referred to as "scholarly," while magazine articles are usually considered "popular". A third category, "trade" magazines or journals, are written for professionals in a particular field but are not strictly research related. Below are additional criteria to consider when differentiating between journals and magazines.

Criteria	Scholarly Journals	Popular Magazines	Trade Publications
Sample Covers
Content	Research-based -Empirical: Detailed report of an original research study -Review: Summary/synthesis of many studies on a topic -Theoretical: based on the intellectual tradition of a scholarly discipline	Secondary report or discussion may include personal narrative, opinion, anecdotes. Primary purpose it to entertain or inform.	Reports and discussions about industry news, technology, best practices, trends, and products for a specific profession or industry.
Visual Style	Functional look - pages of text, graphs, and tables. Often includes section headings. No advertisements.	Sophisticated graphic design, colored images, and advertisements	Sophisticated graphic design, colored images, and industry-related advertisements
Audience	Academics and Professionals in the discipline written using discipline specific vocabulary (jargon).	General Public	People in the industry
Authors	Experts or specialists (PhD), unpaid. Articles are typically written with more than one author and will list their academic affiliations.	Journalists, staff, writers, or freelance writers, paid.	Staff writers, industry specialists, or vendor representatives, both paid and unpaid
Publication Information	Usually includes a volume and issue number on the first or second pages.	Usually just includes a date and sometimes time of publication	Often includes a volume and issue number
Article Title	Usually has a complex and long title	Short, easy to understand titles	Short, easy to understand titles
Editorial Review	Journal editorial board and peer reviewers. Unpaid.	Professional editors. Paid.	Professional editors. Paid.
Citations/Attributions	Almost always (in-text citations AND reference lists, works cited, or bibliographies).	Rarely and if they do have attributions they are usually links to external sources.	Sometimes
Abstract	Almost always	Rarely	Sometimes

Handout Credit

For Instructors

Learning Outcomes:

What does it mean to be a scholarly source covers how to:

• Identify a scholarly (versus a non-scholarly) source
• Describe how a scholarly source differs from other types of sources