Scholarly articles are written by experts in academic and professional fields. They are a great resource for finding out what has already been studied or researched as well as finding bibliographies that can point you to other relevant information resources.
There are several different types of publications so you must learn to differentiate scholarly articles from the rest. Here is a quick guide:
| Scholarly: This type of publication is meant to inform and report original research or experimentation to the rest of the scholarly world. They generally have substantial bibliographies and foot notes, contain technical terminology and have many graphs and charts to support the research. |  |
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| Trade: This type of publication is meant to provide news and information to those in a particular profession or industry. They are written by the practitioners or educators within the industry. Unlike scholarly journals, trade magazines will have extensive advertising aimed at people within the field. |  |
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| News or Opinion: This type of publication is meant to provide general information to an educated lay audience. They do not use technical language and do not emphasize a speciality. They include extensive advertising aimed at the general public. | ||
| Popular: This type of publication is meant to entertain or persuade. Their agenda is to sell products or services. They use simple language to meet a minimum education level and include extensive advertising aimed at the general public. |
Often you will hear the terms scholarly or peer-reviewed used interchangeably to describe articles. However, they are not the same thing. Peer-reviewed articles are read and evaluated by experts in the field before they are accepted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal. Most scholarly articles are peer-reviewed, some are not. Generally, instructors are happy with either peer-reviewed or scholarly articles. However, if you must have a peer-reviewed source you can check the journal's website or ask a librarian.
Here is a short video explaining the peer-review process.