PART 2
Slide 1
Intro
Slide 2
So Let’s talk for a moment in-depth about scholarly research articles, which you can find in the Herzing University Online Library.
There are certain traits shared by all scholarly research articles.
First, their authors are usually specialists, experts in their field, scholars, or academics. Their articles are usually signed, including their credentials (like a Ph.D.) and their institutional affiliation, usually a college or university. In contrast, articles in popular publications are usually written by someone who works for the magazine, who may or may not have expert knowledge about what they’re covering in the article.
The intended audience for scholarly journals is usually scholars, academics, and researchers. Most members of the general public would find these articles to be too long or too technical. However, these are the types of articles you’ll be expected to find, read, evaluate, and use in your scholarly writing at the college level.
Articles in scholarly resources are expected to be accurate, so the author’s research is extensively documented, including reference lists, bibliographies, footnotes, and parenthetical citations.
Scholarly resources are often peer reviewed. This means that articles and papers are reviewed and accepted before publication by experts in the field. This process evaluates materials to be sure they are of high-quality and that research methodology is sound. A peer-reviewed journal may also be called “refereed”. Check the editorial policy, mission, and/or instructions for publication to determine the publication standards.
Slide 3
While popular magazines like Time and Newsweek have interesting information, they are not often considered scholarly material. Scholarly journals are different than magazines in many ways. First, the journals themselves tend to be dedicated to very specific topics. For example, there are journals specifically for Canadian Children’s Literature, Vegetation History and Archaeobotany, and Politeness Research (Journal of Politeness Research: Language, Behaviour, Culture). Scholarly Journals tend to have lengthier articles, sometimes thousands of words long. Journals aren’t published as frequently as magazines, usually only 4 to 6 times a year. Each year of a journal is a volume, which is broken down into separate issues. The page numbers in a journal run through the whole volume, and don’t start over in each issue. Articles in scholarly journals also often include an abstract, which summarizes the article in about 100 words and gives a summary of major findings.
Slide 4
Watch out—we need to always ask, what bias might the source we’re looking at possess?
If the source is clearly biased, it is not a reliable source. Bias has no place in objective research. If the source is clearly angling for a position and does not include reliable data, it is not a reliable source.
For instance, let’s say we’re doing an Internet search for scholarly information on the death penalty or marijuana use in the U.S. We find the two sites listed on this slide. Based on the titles alone, we can discern that these would not be reliable sources? Why? Because the title of one is “pro death penalty,” showing us right away that the information there will be biased toward the death penalty. That site is also a .com sight, so it may be trying to sell an idea or a commodity to us as well. The second site is also clearly biased, as the title alone tells us the source is about legalization, and it is a .com site, as well. We could explore each of these sites further to make sure, but a quick and early indication is that they will not be scholarly enough for us to use in academic research writing.
We can see the bias immediately in the name of the site. It clearly states the site supports the death penalty.
Slide 5
What does the source have to gain?
If a source is selling anything, endorsing anything, linked to another source that is selling anything, endorsing anything, or has anything to gain by presenting biased information, the source is not reliable.
Sources that have something to gain will automatically present information that is biased in their favor. Therefore, the source could contain information that is intentionally misleading or incorrect.
Slide 6
Let’s look at an example in more detail.
The site shown on this slide appears to provide detailed information about the benefits of tankless water heaters. However, the information is on a site that sells tankless water heaters. Therefore, the site will most likely only provide information that persuades the reader to purchase a tankless water heater.
Slide 7
What sources does the source use?
All reliable sources will cite their sources. A source that does not cite its sources is not a reliable source. A reliable source will include detailed citations of reliable sources. If the source does not include their sources, you can assume one of two things:
- The source wrote entirely from opinion.
- The source used other source material but plagiarized their work by failing to give credit where credit is due.
If a source wrote entirely from opinion, that source is not reliable for academic research. A single opinion can be wrong. A good source supports their claims with other scholarly sources.
If the source committed plagiarism, the source is dishonest, and you cannot trust the information it provides.
Slide 8
What about sites like Wikipedia, Associated Content, eHow, etc.?
There are many sites available via the Internet that allow non-experts to publish like experts. These sites allow anyone with information the platform to share it. These sites are not reliable for a number of reasons. Most notably, the authors are typically not experts in their fields. Even when the authors are experts in their fields, they are writing for a site that allows editing and/or is not peer reviewed.
Anyone, absolutely anyone, can update information on Wikipedia, whether they are a scholar or not. That is why Wikipedia will NEVER be considered an appropriate source for scholarly, college-level research work.
Slide 9
A quick look at this Wikipedia article will show several instances where the words “citation needed” or “not in citation given” appear. This means the information presented is not supported by research. Additionally, people can (and have) intentionally included false information in Wikipedia articles.
As you can see by the tags that say “citation needed,” “when?” and “not supported in citation,” this Wikipedia example shows an instance where the citation provided does not support the information provided.
Slide 10
What about blogs?
Blogs have many purposes. They inform, entertain, persuade, etc. Often, experts blog. You can find many blogs written by people who are considered experts in their fields. However, these blogs often contain more opinion than research, and they still have reliability issues.
Blogs are not reliable for the same reason sites like Wikipedia, Associated Content, and eHow are not reliable. Blogs are not peer reviewed. Furthermore, blogs have fewer requirements than sites like Wikipedia, Associated Content, and eHow. Blogs require no citations. Even experts have unfounded opinions. The bottom line is if the expert makes a claim in a blog, you should be able to find the same claim in a reliable scholarly source, if the claim is truly reliable.
Slide 11
Helpful hints for Internet searching
The top sites listed in any internet search through a search engineare typically paid sites. This means they paid the search engine to place them first. They are often biased.
Sites that end in .gov, .mil, .org, and .edu are typically considered reliable. However, this is not always the case. Therefore, you must consistently evaluate all Internet sources.
Slide 12
These criteria are helpful for evaluating resources found on the internet.
First, the author has authority and credibility. The person writing this page knows what they’re talking about and has credentials indicating that they are a reliable source of information on this topic. Writing that is clearly biased toward one position or another would not be a good choice for a scholarly source. A famous example of this is the website martinlutherking.org, which is actually a racist attack site against Martin Luther King, Jr.
Second, the information is appropriately current for your subject area. A web page that hasn’t been updated since the 90’s probably doesn’t have the most recent information.
The information provided is accurate. This isn’t always easy to determine, but a good rule of thumb is that if you can recognize an error on a site, it’s not good enough to use as a scholarly source.
Next, it’s important that the source is maintained and has good presentation. While the content is more important than aesthetics, poor presentation is usually a good tip-off that the author isn’t invested enough in this topic to be a credible source of scholarly information.
It’s also important that you understand the purpose of the information and it meets your needs. If a site contains overly technical or detailed information not on your topic, it may not be a good source for you to use.
Finally, it’s very important that you can document the source and cite it correctly, including information like the URL of the exact page you’re using, the author, the date the information on the site was published, and the date you accessed the information. If you can’t access this information, it may not be appropriate to use this as a scholarly resource.
Slide 13
Summary
Reliable sources
Internet Sources
Herzing University Library sources.
Now you know a lot more about how to determine if a source is popular or scholarly. You have criteria for evaluating Internet sources, and information about how to use the online databases through our Herzing University Online Library to find scholarly sources. Put these resources to work this week as you continue to look for information related to your research topic!