Intermediate Research Strategies

Popular vs. Scholarly Sources

Research-based writing assignments in college will often require that you use scholarly sources in your essay. Geneseo’s writing seminar certainly asks you to be able to locate such sources and to know how to distinguish them from non-scholarly sources like the types of articles found in newspapers or general-interest magazines. Below is a chart listing some of the most common criteria which you can examine to make this determination:

Popular Source Scholarly Source
Intended Audience Broad: readers are not expected to know much about the topic already Narrow: readers are expected to be familiar with or interested in the topic beforehand
Author Journalist: may have a broad area of specialization (war correspondent, media critic) Subject Matter Expert: often has a degree or other academic qualification in the subject and/or extensive experience on the topic
Research Includes quotes from interviews. No bibliography. Includes summaries, paraphrases, and quotations from previous writing done on the subject. Footnotes and citations. Ends with bibliography.
Publication Standards Article is reviewed by editor and proofreader Article has gone through a peer-review process, where experts on the field have given input before publication

Still not feeling entirely sure of how to identify and distinguish scholarly vs non-scholarly materials? Go to Milne’s Research Guide, “Distinguish Scholarly vs. Popular Sources,” which will link you to videos for a more detailed explanation.

Where to Find Scholarly Sources

Find sources: begin with background research, narrow the search terms, look for scholarly information, search libraries and databases.

The first step in finding scholarly resources is to look in the right place. Sites like Google, Yahoo, and Wikipedia are good for locating popular sources, but if you want something you can cite in a scholarly paper, you need to search for it in a scholarly database. These are information sources provided and paid for by your  library so that you can access knowledge you couldn’t typically get hold of as an individual.

Two common scholarly databases are Academic Search Premier and ProQuest, although many others are also available that focus on specific topics. Milne Library’s website lists the most commonly used ones on the main page under “Databases”, and the complete A-Z list of the ~150 resources available to you via Milne Library is found under “More Databases” below (red arrows) .

You have another incredible resource at your fingertips: Milne’s librarians! For assistance in locating resources, you will find that librarians are extremely knowledgeable and may help you uncover sources you would never have found on your own.

Screenshot of Milne's main page. Green arrow indicates "Ask Us". Red Arrows indicate location of "Databases" and "More databases".Perhaps your school has a microfilm collection, an extensive genealogy database, or access to another library’s catalog. You will not know unless you utilize the valuable skills available to you, so be sure to find out how to get in touch with a research instruction librarian for support!

Simply click on the “Ask Us” button (green arrow) on the left side of Milne Library’s home page to get started.