What's Scholarly?

Catholic University Libraries and the WRLC consortium subscribe to thousands of periodicals in a variety of formats. Article database subscriptions provide access to an even wider range of publications.

How do you know which articles are appropriate when your professor asks you to use "scholarly" sources in your papers?

By asking yourself the following questions, you should be able to make a judgment about whether a particular article would be considered scholarly by the academic world.

• Is the journal either "peer-reviewed" or "refereed"?
• Is the journal published by either a scholarly organization or an academic press?
• Does the article list the authors' institutional affiliations?
• Does the article appear to be targeted toward researchers/advanced students/instructors? What type of language does the article use? Articles written for a general audience are usually not scholarly.
• What is the format? Is the article laid out like a magazine article (short, lots of illustrations)? Or is it organized according to a standard research practice of your field (with sections such as an abstract, literature review, methodology, results)? Does the article explain the methodology used in an experiment or study?
• Do the authors of the article cite their sources with footnotes or a bibliography? Does the article refer to research done by others in the field?

NOTE : There are many reliable and valuable sources of information that are not considered scholarly. Many articles from newspapers, magazines, trade publications and newsletters are written by scholars or published by scholarly organizations. These types of publications will prove to be useful in your research. However they are not considered to be official vehicles of scholarly communication. When in doubt, ask your professor.

Need more guidance? These pages, developed by other college and university libraries, give additional information on distinguishing between scholarly and other publications.

• Carleton University, "Scholarly vs. Popular Journals"
• Colorado State University, "Popular Magazines VS Trade Magazines VS Scholarly Journals"
• Cornell University, "Distinguishing Scholarly Journals from Other Periodicals"
• Humboldt University, "Journals - Scholarly or Popular?"
• Rutgers University, "Popular Literature vs. Scholarly Peer-Reviewed Literature: What's the Difference?"
• University of Texas at San Antonio, "Scholarly Journals v. Popular Magazine Articles"

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