{"id":271,"date":"2016-06-24T00:43:22","date_gmt":"2016-06-24T00:43:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/waymaker-level3-english\/?post_type=chapter&p=271"},"modified":"2018-08-28T17:24:26","modified_gmt":"2018-08-28T17:24:26","slug":"text-intermediate-research-strategies","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-esc-englishcomposition1-2\/chapter\/text-intermediate-research-strategies\/","title":{"raw":"Scholarly Articles","rendered":"Scholarly Articles"},"content":{"raw":"\"TipsThe first step in finding good resources is to know what to look for. Sites\u00a0such as\u00a0Google Scholar may help in finding some scholarly articles, but you often need to find validated, peer-reviewed articles.\r\n

Scholarly and Peer-Reviewed Articles<\/h2>\r\nA scholarly source is an article or book that was written by an expert in the academic field. Most are written by researchers\u00a0and subject-matter experts for publication in peer-reviewed academic journals. The terms \"scholarly\" and \"peer-reviewed\" article are often used interchangeably, but there is a distinction.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_674\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"320\"]\"Screenshot Major search databases like ProQuest, have checkboxes to narrow search results to only peer-reviewed articles.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nScholarly articles are written by subject-matter experts, often appear in journals, and include bibliographies, but may or may not be fully, carefully reviewed. Peer-reviewed articles, on the other hand, are subjected to careful\u00a0scrutiny and reviewed by multiple\u00a0other subject-matter experts. Databases typically have a checkbox you can click to confine your search to\u00a0peer-reviewed content.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_672\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\"]\"Flowchart Steps involved in the peer-review process.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nUnderstanding the peer-review process gives insight as to why your instructors want you to focus on these resources. First, hopeful authors send their article manuscript to the journal editor, a role filled by some prominent scholar in the field. The editor reads over the manuscript and decides whether it seems worthy of peer review. If it\u2019s not rejected and looks appropriate and of sufficiently high quality, the editor will recruit a few other experts in the field to act as anonymous peer reviewers. The editor will send the manuscript (scrubbed of identifying information) to the reviewers who will read it closely and provide a thorough critique. Reviewers send their comments to the editor who then decides whether to: 1) reject the manuscript, 2) ask the author\/s\u00a0to revise and resubmit the manuscript,\u00a0or 3) accept it for publication. Editors send the reviewers\u2019 comments to authors along with their decisions. A manuscript that has been revised and resubmitted usually goes out for peer-review again; editors often try to get reviews from one or two first-round reviewers as well as a new reviewer.\r\n\r\nBecause of the careful peer review process,\u00a0scholarly, peer-reviewed articles are generally considered very valid sources of information.\r\n\r\n[embed]https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=qUd_gf2ypk4[\/embed]\r\n\r\n \r\n
\r\n

Finding Scholarly\u00a0Sources<\/h3>\r\n

Let's revisit Marvin's situation and see what the writing professor has to say about finding\u00a0peer-reviewed articles.<\/em><\/p>\r\n

Marvin: My professor said something about using peer-reviewed articles in scholarly journals.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Prof: Professors will often want you to use such sources. Articles in scholarly journals are written by experts; and if a journal\u2019s peer-reviewed, its articles have been screened by other experts (the authors\u2019 peers) before being published.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Marvin: So that would make peer-reviewed articles pretty reliable. Where do I find them?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Prof: Google\u2019s got a specialized search engine, Google Scholar, that will search for scholarly articles that might be useful (www. googlescholar.com). But often the best place is the college library\u2019s bibliographic databases. A database is a collection of related data, usually electronic, set up for easy access to items in the collection. Library bibliographic databases contain articles from newspapers, magazines, scholarly journals, and other publications. They can be very large, but they\u2019re a lot smaller than the whole Internet, and they generally contain reliable information. The Internet, on the other hand, contains both good and bad information.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Marvin looks down at his feet.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\r\n

Marvin: Sounds sort of like looking for shoes. When I was buying my running shoes, I went to a specialty running shop instead of a regular shoe store. The specialty shop had all the brands I\u00a0<\/span>was looking for, and I didn\u2019t have to weed through sandals and dress shoes. Is that kind of like a library\u2019s bibliographic database?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Prof: Exactly. But remember, a database search engine can only find what\u2019s actually in the database. If you\u2019re looking for information on drinking water, you won\u2019t find much in a database full of art history publications. The library has some subject guides that can tell you the best databases to use for your topic.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Marvin: What about books? I did check out the library catalog and found a couple of good books on my topic.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Prof: Yes, don\u2019t forget about books. You generally have to walk physically to get information that\u2019s only in print form, or have someone else bring it to you. Even though Google has now scanned many of the world\u2019s books into its database, they won\u2019t give you access to the entire book if the book is still under copyright.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Marvin: So I\u2019m back to real walking again.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Prof: Yes. Don\u2019t forget to ask for help when you\u2019re looking around for sources. Reference librarians make very good guides; it\u2019s their job to keep up on where various kinds of knowledge are located and help people find that knowledge. Professors also make good guides, but they\u2019re most familiar with where to find knowledge in their own fields.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Marvin: I could ask my health and environment professor for help, of course, and maybe my geology and chemistry professors. I\u2019m guessing my music teacher would be less helpful.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Prof: One last hint about finding sources. If you find an article or book that\u2019s helpful for your paper, look at its reference list. There might be some useful sources listed there.<\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n

Reading Scholarly Articles<\/h2>\r\n
Once you find scholarly articles appropriate to your research, here are a few tips about how to read them.<\/div>\r\n
\r\n\r\n[embed]https:\/\/youtu.be\/c3tV8g70YuU[\/embed]\r\n\r\n<\/div>","rendered":"

\"TipsThe first step in finding good resources is to know what to look for. Sites\u00a0such as\u00a0Google Scholar may help in finding some scholarly articles, but you often need to find validated, peer-reviewed articles.<\/p>\n

Scholarly and Peer-Reviewed Articles<\/h2>\n

A scholarly source is an article or book that was written by an expert in the academic field. Most are written by researchers\u00a0and subject-matter experts for publication in peer-reviewed academic journals. The terms “scholarly” and “peer-reviewed” article are often used interchangeably, but there is a distinction.<\/p>\n

\"Screenshot<\/p>\n

Major search databases like ProQuest, have checkboxes to narrow search results to only peer-reviewed articles.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Scholarly articles are written by subject-matter experts, often appear in journals, and include bibliographies, but may or may not be fully, carefully reviewed. Peer-reviewed articles, on the other hand, are subjected to careful\u00a0scrutiny and reviewed by multiple\u00a0other subject-matter experts. Databases typically have a checkbox you can click to confine your search to\u00a0peer-reviewed content.<\/p>\n

\"Flowchart<\/p>\n

Steps involved in the peer-review process.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Understanding the peer-review process gives insight as to why your instructors want you to focus on these resources. First, hopeful authors send their article manuscript to the journal editor, a role filled by some prominent scholar in the field. The editor reads over the manuscript and decides whether it seems worthy of peer review. If it\u2019s not rejected and looks appropriate and of sufficiently high quality, the editor will recruit a few other experts in the field to act as anonymous peer reviewers. The editor will send the manuscript (scrubbed of identifying information) to the reviewers who will read it closely and provide a thorough critique. Reviewers send their comments to the editor who then decides whether to: 1) reject the manuscript, 2) ask the author\/s\u00a0to revise and resubmit the manuscript,\u00a0or 3) accept it for publication. Editors send the reviewers\u2019 comments to authors along with their decisions. A manuscript that has been revised and resubmitted usually goes out for peer-review again; editors often try to get reviews from one or two first-round reviewers as well as a new reviewer.<\/p>\n

Because of the careful peer review process,\u00a0scholarly, peer-reviewed articles are generally considered very valid sources of information.<\/p>\n