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Course & Subject Guides

History of Sports - Pittsburgh Campus

This guide will assist Dr. Brazile's HIST 1083 and HIST 1095 students with their research.

What makes information "scholarly"

Instructors often ask students to find “scholarly”, “academic”, or “peer reviewed” sources of information for their research.  These terms all refer to the same type of information – sources based on in-depth research, and are considered higher in quality and more reliable for your research. 

These sources can range from chapters within books or entire books, or journal articles, but all have common characteristics that can help you recognize that type of information.

Scholarly Sources
  • Produced by experts or researchers in a specialized field or discipline.
  • Purpose is to present new or unpublished research.
  • Articles reviewed by experts for scholarly content or quality, or
    • peer reviewed
  • Written using formal language and structure: abstract,
    • literature review, methodology, results, conclusion, footnotes, endnotes and/or bibliography.
  • Articles always cite source information.
  • May include tables or graphs to support research.

General Purpose publications

  • Designed for a broad segment of the population.
  • Articles written in informal tone and often unsigned.
  • Usually read for entertainment or to keep up with current events.
  • May have a bright cover with glossy pictures.
  • Lots of advertising.

 

Trade or Professional publications

 
  • Provides information of use to a particular industry.
  • Articles are not peer reviewed.
  • May have a bright cover.
  • No specific format.
  • Articles sometimes unsigned.
  • Advertising is used to appeal to those in the field.

 

 

Identifying Scholarly Journal Articles

There are specific characteristics to look for when trying to identify scholarly journal articles. They tend to be very long, written by an expert in the field. The layout will include an abstract or summary, references in the text, as well as a long reference list at the end of the article.