What are scholarly sources?
Scholarly sources are those that have been approved by a group with recognized expertise in the field under discussion. Books published by universities fall into this category, as do articles published in peer-reviewed journals—journals where the editors send pieces out to be read by experts in the field.
- The Patrick Wilson Library subscribes to several databases that specialize in scholarly sources. On ONESEARCH, you can check the box below it to search ONLY for scholarly journals.
- If you use sources for facts or ideas in your writing, some research projects will demand that you rely heavily if not exclusively on scholarly sources. Scholarly sources are not infallible, but their publication process includes many steps for verifying facts, for reducing political bias, and for identifying conflicts of interest (for instance, for informing readers when a drug company has funded research on its own product).
- Another choice, instead of simply Googling, would be to use Google Scholar. The Chrome browser has an extension for GS that you can add, or simply open a new tab and use scholar.google.com. If you select Advanced Search from the pull down menu on the top left, you can use the search boxes to filter your search results.