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- Peer Review & Scholarly Sources
AFRAM 272 History of the South Since the Civil War: Peer Review & Scholarly Sources
Brukab Sisay - Autumn 2020
What is Peer Review?
Scholarly (refereed, academic, peer reviewed) books and articles have gone through a vetting process called peer review. This is a more rigorous process than what currently exists for popular sources (magazines and newspapers). The peer review process generally occurs in this manner:
- a researcher or scholar writes a manuscript or paper in their area of subject specialty
- The scholar submits the text to a scholarly (academic) publisher
- The scholarly publisher finds other scholars (expert peers) in the same field and asks them to read and review the article or book for errors and to make sure that it is academically rigorous (often steps 2 and 3 are repeated as the reviewers find errors or weak arguments, which forces the scholar to revise parts of the book or article and resubmit it for publishing)
- Finally, once the author's "peers" conclude that the text is a legitimate work of scholarship, it is published.
Why is this important for you?
Due to the rigorous submission process and the credentials of the author/researcher, the information in a scholarly text is considered more reliable and credible than information in popular sources like newspapers and magazines.
In addition, scholarly books and articles provide insight into common arguments and ways of thinking used by scholars in a particular discipline.When you are writing a paper or giving a presentation on a topic in that discipline, it is helpful for you to be aware of those arguments and ways of thinking.
Scholarly, Popular, or Professional/Trade Journal?
Here are some tips on how to distinguish scholalry journals from other periodicals (magazines, newspapers, etc.) Developed by the UW Bothell Librarians:
|
Characteristics |
Scholarly Sources |
Professional or Trade Sources |
Popular Sources |
|
Examples |
American Journal of Psychology |
Advertising Age Education Week Supply and Demand Chain Executive Health Insurance Underwriter Magazine |
Psychology Today Time
|
|
Audience |
Scholars, researchers and students |
Other members of the profession or trade |
General audience, all readers |
|
Authors |
Scholars, researchers, and experts in the field of study Author's credentials in the field are established (e.g., institutional affiliation, maybe degrees) |
Members of the profession or trade, specialized journalists, or technical writers Credentials are usually not provided
|
Reporters, usually not experts on the subject Authors may not have special qualifications for writing article; credentials are usually not provided |
|
Bibliography/ |
Sources cited in footnotes and/or bibliography Usually extensive list of references |
Documentation of sources is not required, though sometimes brief bibliographies of further readings are included |
Sources are not cited or cited informally No reference list provided |
|
Language |
Field-specific language/jargon; requires reader to be previously informed about field. |
Include jargon and terms that are commonly used in the profession or trade |
Written in everyday language accessible to any general reader |
|
Purpose |
To report results of original research, experimentation or analysis
|
Provide practical information for members of a profession or industry, including topics like news, trends, products, and research summaries |
Provide broad, general information and entertainment Secondary but not "original" research (the author didn’t conduct the actual lab work, math, or theoretical analysis.) |
|
Appearance |
Dense text-based pages |
Moderate number of advertisements targeted to the interests of the members of a profession, industry, or organization |
Attractive appearance – colorful |
How to read a Scholarly Article
Summaries and critiques are two ways to write a review of a scientific journal article.The following link includes techniques for understanding the content of scholarly articles from the Duke University Writing Studio.