What is a Scholarly Article?

Knowing how to distinguish between scholarly and popular articles can help you be smarter about the sources you choose for your papers and projects. Recognize the types of articles your professors expect.

College professors often ask their students to find scholarly, peer-reviewed journal articles, which can be very technical and include specialized vocabulary. It may feel like these articles require a Ph.D to understand them, so why do professors ask that you read them?

They want you to use quality sources of information. Scholarly articles are written by professors, scientists, and researchers with years of experience. Many scholarly articles are peer-reviewed, which means other scholars have looked over their work to critique, question, and provide feedback. This system peer review process provides a close examination on the content, resulting in more accurate information. 

Scholarly articles include written results, discussions, and conclusions about formal research. They cite the ideas of others and explain the ramifications of new discoveries. 

Authors must explain how they conducted their research, whose work influenced their own, and how their research is advancing knowledge in that field of study. Review or print out the following handout to remember the elements of a scholarly article: Determine If a Source is Scholarly.