FHSU Source Locator

What are Scholarly Sources?

An excerpt from Choosing and Using Sources:

Scholarly journal articles (such as those published in the Journal of Plant Science and Education and Child Psychology) are meant for scholars and students in a particular field of study. While they can also be read by members of the general public who have an interest in the topic, since they are written by experts, they often assume that the reader will already have a significant amount of existing knowledge on the topic. The authors may use discipline-specific terminology or reference developments or events that may be unfamiliar to those who do not have experience in the field. As a result, they can sometimes be challenging to understand for those who do not have a background in the field. Researchers and scholars write these articles to present new knowledge and further understanding of their field of study.

Additionally, they are:

• Where findings of research projects, data and analytics, and case studies usually appear first.
• Often long (usually over 10 pages) and always include footnotes and references.
• Usually published by universities, professional associations, and commercial publishers.
• Published after approval by peer review or from the journal’s editor.