Identifying Scholarly Sources - ENG 107 - College Composition II - LibGuides at Aultman Health Sciences Library

Identifying Scholarly Sources Video Tutorial

View the video tutorial below for information on identifying scholarly sources. Peruse the example scholarly sources to get a picture of what real sources look like. Below that, you will find a comparison of the different identifiers of scholarly sources and how they may appear in trade and popular sources.

Example Scholarly Sources

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Gerontology Nursing Case Studies by Donna Bowles
ISBN: 9780826194053
Print book available in Aultman's book stacks.
Abortion Across Borders by Sethna; Davis
ISBN: 9781421427294
Publication Date: 2019
eBook available through Aultman EBSCO collection.

Prescription opioid and benzodiazepine misuse is associated with suicidal ideation in older adults
Original research article in a scholarly journal.
Risk for Revictimization of Intimate Partner Violence by Multiple Partners: a Systematic Review
A systematic review article in a scholarly journal.
Unpacking Heritability: The relenteless pursuit of the partitioning of nature and nurture
Conference papers from a conference presentation.
Proactive HIV Testing Among Youth
A doctoral dissertation indexed in an open access database. Click on "View record in BASE" to see the full text.

Comparison of Scholarly, Trade, & Popular Sources

Comparison of Scholarly, Trade, & Popular Sources
Downloadable version.

Characteristics	Scholarly	Trade	Popular
Authors/Contributors	Experts in a particular subject of study, like a Ph.D., researcher, or other scholar with educational credentials	Professionals or experts in the field	Journalists who are not necessarily experts in a specific subject area
Citations/Sources	Always present, with footnotes and/or a bibliography	Sometimes present, depends on the publication	Rarely present
Review Process	Peer review or refereed process wherein other scholars evaluate the content, format, grammar, and language	Review by editorial staff, including for grammar and language, sometimes a peer review process is used depending on the publication	Reviewed by editorial staff, including for grammar and language
Content	Original research, review of books relevant to scholars in the discipline	Practical information for professionals, including news and trends	Brief articles on a variety of general interest topics like sports, fashion, art, etc.
Language	Very technical, it is usually assumed that the reader is familiar with such language	Generally straightforward language, but may include technical jargon	Simple language accessible to any reader
Purpose	To make information available to the rest of the scholarly world and to make theoretical and practical advancements in their field	To report on trends in the profession and provide practical advice to other professionals	To entertain, share news, promote a viewpoint, or sell a product
Visual Appearance	Few frills (like pictures or glossy pages), articles may include graphs or tables, no ads	In between scholarly and popular, with some visual frills, and ads are usually related to the profession	Bright and attention-grabbing, including pictures, graphics, and various ads
Examples	New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA, American Journal of Nursing	Social Work Practice, Professional Nurse, Medscape	Rolling Stone, Readers Digest, Sports Illustrated, Vogue

Chart design inspired by Colorado State University Libraries, Springfield Township Virtual Library, Hunter Library at Western Carolina University, and Cornell University Libraries.