Savvy Info Consumers: Scholarly Sources

Reliability Rating 

GREEN: Be thoughtful, these sources undergo a fairly stringent editorial and peer-review process but quality can vary.

What are scholarly articles and academic journals?

Academic journals and scholarly articles share the following characteristics:

• They are written for every subject area or academic discipline.
• They are written by professors, researchers and other scholars
• They disseminate research and scholarly discussions among scholars (faculty, researchers, students) in a discipline.  
• They are published by professional associations, university publishers or other academic publishers
• They are highly specialized and may use technical language
• They may include graphs and tables
• They will will cite their sources and include footnotes/endnotes and/or a bibliography/reference list.
• Most importantly they are peer reviewed (refereed) before publication.

What is peer review?

Need to verify that a journal is peer reviewed (refereed)? Search the  Ulrichsweb periodicals directory for the title of the journal, if you see this icon  the journal is refereed.

ASK YOURSELF:  Is this a TRAAP?  

The TRAAP Test helps you to evaluate the information that you find.  Different criteria will be more or less useful depending on your need.

Timeliness: the timeliness of the information

• When was the information published or posted?
• Has the information been revised or updated?
• Have newer articles been published on your topic?
• Does your topic require current information or will older sources also work?
• Are the links functional?

Relevance: the importance of the information for your needs

• Does the information relate to your topic or answer your question?
• Who is the intended audience?
• Is the information at an appropriate level (i.e. not too elementary or advanced for your needs)?
• Have you looked at a variety of sources before determining this is the one you will use?
• Would you be comfortable using this source for a research paper?

Authority: the source of the information

• Who is the author / publisher / source / sponsor?
• What are the author's credentials or organizational affiliations?
• What are the author's qualifications to write on the topic?
• Is there contact information, such as a publisher or email address?
• Does the URL reveal anything about the source?  (More info about URLs and Internet Domains)

Accuracy: the reliability, truthfulness, and correctness of the information

• Where does the information come from?
• Is the information supported by evidence?
• Has the information been reviewed or refereed?
• Can you verify any of the information in another source or from personal knowledge?
• Does the language or tone seem biased and free of emotion?
• Are there spelling, grammar, or other typographical errors?

Purpose: the reason the information exists

• What is the purpose of the information?  Is it to inform, teach, sell, entertain, or persuade?
• Do the authors / sponsors make their intentions or purpose clear?
• Is the information fact, opinion, or propaganda?
• Does the point of view appear objective and impartial?
• Are there political, ideological, cultural, religious, institutional, or personal biases?

Credits: Content used on this page was adapted from "Is this source of information good?" from Meriam Library, California State University, Chico.