ENG 212: Intermediate Composition -
Finding and Reading Scholarly Sources in the Disciplines

How do I find scholarly books and articles? 

For books, use our library's catalog, MnPALS. There is no way to limit a search to scholarly books only. Instead, use clues in the title and notes (if available) to decide which books look promising. Then take down the call number and browse the shelves. It's much easier to tell if a book is scholarly when you have it in your hands. Some indicators:

• the author is a scholar (or there are several essays by scholars)
• there are references to sources (a bibliography and/or notes)
• the publisher is a university press (though other publishers also publish scholarly books)
• there's an index (though some non-scholarly books have indexes)
• it appears to have an audience in mind that already knows something about the subject or related subjects

For articles, there are two approaches. One is to check our Subject Guides and click on the "journals" link. Then go downstairs and find the current issues shelved alphabetically by title. In most scholarly journals there will be some indication (usually in the front of the journal) of what its purpose is.

Another approach is to try a database. Each discipline has their own specialized databases, as listed on the Subject Guides. You might also search the interdisciplinary Academic Search Premier and limit your search to peer-reviewed journals. Though you may still have to do some filtering, this approach will leave out most non-scholarly magazines and is particularly helpful for interdisciplinary areas.

How do I tell if an article is scholarly? Different disciplines expect their writing to conform to standards specific to their discipline. But they do have some features in common. As you look at an article, ask yourself these questions:

• Does it report on research rather than report news or give opinion?
• Are credentials given for the author(s)?
• Is the author a scholar rather than a journalist?
• Is it substantial? Most scholarly articles are several pages long.
• Is the language of the article specialized?
• Does the author place the new research in the context of existing knowledge - e.g. does the article include a literature review and/or a list of references?

Take a look at these two examples.

• example one - from The New York Times
• example two - from Neuroimage, a scientific journal

A note about the Web: Though some scholarly articles are becoming available freely on the Web (partly in response to a movement to make scholarly and scientific research "open access") most articles in scholarly journals are not available except by subscription. Google has started a new search service, Google Scholar, that attempts to focus on scholarly sources, but it is most useful in the natural sciences, not very useful for the humanities - and many of the links lead to publisher web sites rather than to the actual article. Don't pay for an article online - we should be able to get it for you through Interlibrary Loan.

Barbara Fister 3/06