ENGL 102 - English Composition II (Tillinghast): Finding Scholarly Sources

Articles in scholarly journals may also be called research journals, peer reviewed journals, or refereed journals. These types of articles share many common features, including:

• articles always provide the name of the author or multiple authors
• author(s) always have academic credentials (e.g. biologist, chemist, anthropologist, lawyer)
• articles often have a sober, serious look
• articles may contain many graphs and charts; few glossy pages or color pictures
• author(s) write in the language of the discipline (e.g. biology, chemistry, anthropology, law, etc.)
• authors write for other scholars, and emerging scholars
• authors always cite their sources in footnotes, bibliographies, notes, etc.
• often (but not always) associated with universities or professional organizations.

Research articles in many disciplines are organized into standard sections. Although these sections may vary by discipline, common sections include:

• Abstract
• Introduction
• Materials and Methods
• Analysis
• Results
• Discussion
• Reference

It's not hard to spot these sections; just look for bold headings in the article, as shown in these illustrations: