Scholarly Journals
 

Scholarly or refereed journals tend to have cutting-edge research conducted by experts in a field or profession.  To get published in a scholarly periodical, an author must have educational or workplace credentials that are recognized by other experts in the field, and the article must be scrutinized by a jury of peers (or "referees") who determine that the article is well grounded in research and does not mis-represent the research of those who disagree, mislead the reader regarding the validity or scope of the research, or use unethical practices in drawing conclusions from the research.

• Scholarly journals, such as The Journal of the American Medical Association, or the American Journal of Education, contain primary and secondary research written by experts for other experts and well-informed readers.  Because professionals demand a high level of credibility in the publications they read, and because a well-informed readership cannot be easily fooled, scholarly journals require that submissions for publications be read by a jury of editors (or referees) who are also experts in the field. For the most part, information in scholarly journals can be considered highly credible and reliable.  That does not mean that information in these journals is completely objective.  Many scholarly journals use valid research to promote a position on a controversial issue.  The difference is not between truth and fiction, but between ethical argumentation and less academically rigorous efforts at persuasion. 
  
• Popular, mass-circulation periodicals and many journals of opinion, such as Newsweek, The Progressive, or Atlantic Monthly contain articles written by lay people and writers who are well-informed but not expert in the field.  Un-named authors often write for these kinds of publications.  Named authors are often journalists associated with a particular newspaper, news magazine, or with the Associated Press.  It is not unusual for these articles to contain more examples and personal interest stories than rigorous research.  In fact, these articles rarely cite sources at all.  This does not mean that popular periodicals are not objective and reliable. Indeed, many articles in them are very well researched and present balanced viewpoints.  However, popular periodicals should not comprise the majority of sources used in an academic research paper. 

You can access scholarly journals through both InfoTrac and ProQuestDirect.  Make sure you select the "limit to scholarly or refereed" option in these databases.  Selecting this option will filter out many of the non-scholarly articles; however, a fair number (as much as 5-10 percent of your hits) may still be popular periodicals and journals of opinion. 

To be more certain that what you are reading is from a scholarly journal, look for the following:
     1. the expertise of the author(s): 

     2. specialized, focused, in-depth analysis or original research

     3. absence of shabby research or biased use of information and sources

     4. extensive documentation of sources

     5. a lack of consumer advertising in the publication itself 

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