ENGL101 *Online Sections | 3. Identify Scholarly Articles

In this section, you'll find:

• Information on what scholarly articles are and how to identify them for your definition essay
• Tips on using a database's built-in tools to find scholarly articles

Video posted on YouTube by University of South Australia

Scholarly articles will:

• Have named authors with academic credentials and affiliation
• Use technical, formal language that is geared towards experts
• Cite many other sources using a formal citation style, both in-text and in a references list at the end
• Be organized in a very structured way - always including an abstract and references, but also often including sections such as literature review, results, and discussion

Filters

Databases will always have filters than can help narrow your results to scholarly articles. Look for filters for

• Peer Reviewed
  • "Peer-reviewed" is another term you'll often hear from professors who want you to use scholarly articles in your assignments. This filter is usually a separate checkbox that is at the top of filter options, and often on the main search page of a database. Checking this box will limit your results to only articles that are peer-reviewed and published in scholarly journals.
• Source Type: Academic/Scholarly Articles
  • Source or Resource Type filters allow you to narrow your results by the different formats available in the database. Look for Scholarly Articles or Academic Articles in this filter to limit your results to only articles published in scholarly journals.
  • In some databases, this filter will be along the side of your search results. In others, it will be along the top of your results.

Search Results List

Databases will always indicate a source type in your search results. Look for icons or small tags in each search result that tells you what type of source you're looking at.