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Sociology 191 (Pirtle, Spring 2023): Black Feminist Sociology

What to Look for in a Scholarly Article

Scholarly Articles

Scholarly articles (published in print and/or online scholarly journals) are reviewed by experts in a process known as peer review before they are published. They are written for other scholars or experts.

Here is a list of different types of scholarly articles.

Other content you may find in scholarly journals:

  • book review
    • while written by scholars, book reviews in scholarly journals are meant to provide a summary of a newly published book. Book reviews can lead to the discovery of new sources to investigate.
  • editorial
    • while written by editors of scholarly journals, these articles are summaries of content included in a specific issue of a journal. Editorials can lead to the discovery of new sources to investigate.

Peer Review in 3 Minutes

North Carolina State University (NCSU) Libraries, 3:15

  1. What do peer reviewers do?  How are they similar to or different from editors?
  2. Who are the primary customers of scholarly journals?
  3. Do databases only include peer-reviewed articles?  How do you know?

Articles about student research, google, etc.

Scholarly or Popular? Question #1

Examine this article to determine whether it is popular or scholarly:

What Sticks & Stones Can't Do, Facebook Will - and More!

Scholarly or Popular? Question #1
Popular: 8 votes (100%)
Scholarly: 0 votes (0%)
Total Votes: 8

Scholarly or Popular? Question #2

Scholarly or Popular? Question #2
Popular: 1 votes (20%)
Scholarly: 4 votes (80%)
Total Votes: 5

Scholarly or Popular? Question #3

Examine this article to determine whether it is popular or scholarly:

Was I Entitled or Should I Apologize? Affirmative Action Going Forward.

Scholarly or Popular? Question #3
Popular: 0 votes (0%)
Scholarly: 1 votes (100%)
Total Votes: 1

More on Peer-Reviewed Articles

Peer Reviewed Articles might also be called

  • refereed articles
  • scholarly articles
  • juried articles

Watch "Peer Review in 3 Minutes" for a brief overview of the peer review process. (North Carolina State University Libraries).

 

Questions to Consider:

  1. What do peer reviewers do? How are they similar to or different from editors?
  2. Who are the primary customers of scholarly journals?
  3. Do databases only include peer-reviewed articles? How do you know?

 

Ulrichs Global Serials Directory

Not sure if an article is scholarly or popular?  Ulrichs has detailed information on more than 300,000 publications.  Enter journal/magazine title in the search box and find your publication.  Then, look for Academic/Scholarly in the Content Type field.