Scholarly information: materials produced by and for scholars to share knowledge, communicate research, and to learn about specific academic topics
As learners in an academic environment, your professors will expect you to know how to identify scholarly information sources (journal articles, textbooks, encyclopedias, academic press books, theses, newspaper articles, etc); how to locate scholarly information sources (library databases); and how to effectively use scholarly information sources (to develop writing assignments and research projects and formatting citations and bibliographies).
Scholarly information is used in the following scenarios:
Before reading:
1. Identify the author(s) of the information (position, institutional affiliation, academic field/background)
2. Identify the publication format (academic press or journal, popular or educational website, personal blog)
3. Determine the publication date (recent article published within the last 3-5 years or article published < 5 years)
4. Read the abstract, title, acknowledgements, and summary information introducing you to the scholarly information. This step also helps you determine if the scholarly information may even be relevant to you or not.
As you are reading:
5. Scholarly information often follows the following structure (introduction/background information on topic, main idea/argument, discussion of existing literature, and research findings and analysis). Identify these main points of an information source.
6. Carefully identify the types of evidence the scholar uses to develop their argument and to present their information. Look for a discussion of primary and secondary sources within the text as well as in the notes and references listed at the bottom of the page or at the end of the text.
7. Write down questions you have, connections to other information sources, or relevant quotes and page numbers to later develop citations
After reading:
8. Evaluate the authors argument and information presented:
A primary source is a first-hand account of an event or an original document from an event that was created during the period under study. Common examples include newspaper articles, letters, diaries, oral histories, legal records, and government reports
A secondary source describes, interprets, evaluates, or analyzes information from primary sources. Common examples include a scholarly journal article, a book published under an academic press, a review essay, or literary criticism.
