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Library 101

Tutorial on information literacy and using the library at FNU

Scholarly Articles

When finding articles for use in your courses you want to make sure that those articles are scholarly. Scholarly journal articles differ from articles in the popular press in that they are written by an expert in the field, for other experts in the field, and undergo a review process. The video below discusses the difference between scholarly and popular articles in more detail.

To review, here are the characteristics to look for to determine if an article is scholarly or popular.

  Scholarly Article Popular Article
Authorship Author is an expert in the field; name and credentials are provided Author is a writer or journalist
Editing Reviewed and evaluated by editorial board of outside scholars; may also be peer-reviewed Reviewed by editors of the publication
References and Citations Cites other scholarly sources and provides references for them Contains few, if any, references
Language/Audience Uses jargon or technical language specific to the field Uses everyday language for general audience
Look Mostly print, but may contain illustrations relating to the text such as graphs or charts Pictures or other images to capture attention
Format Usually longer, contains in-depth coverage and/or analysis of a topic Usually shorter, giving a broad or superficial view of a topic

Scholarly Articles and the Peer Review Process

Most scholarly articles are peer-reviewed. Peer review refers to the process whereby the article is submitted to the publisher and is evaluated by other experts in the field prior to publication. This process of peer review ensures that “published papers are honest and valid” (Sataloff, 2009, p. 848). The scientific community relies on this process to assist with scientific communication and quality control (Publishing Research Consortium, 2008). Peer review is a multi-step process that take several months.

graphic showing peer review process: Research & Writing, Journal Editor, Peer Reviewers, Feedback for Author, Author revision, Revisions accepted, Publication

How do I know if my article is from a peer-reviewed journal?

How do you know if your article is from a peer-reviewed journal? If you found the article in the MEDLINE database, then it is from a peer-reviewed journal, as that database only indexes journals that are peer-reviewed. If you found the article somewhere else, you can google the title of the journal and find the homepage. From there, you should see an “About this Journal” link or something similar. Take a look at this page and you should find the editorial process of the publication and whether it is peer-reviewed or not. 

Here is an example: google "Journal of Midwifery and Women's Health" and go to their homepage. Click on "About", then "Overview", and you'll see a description of the journal's scope which includes the information that the journal is peer-reviewed. 

overview page from Journal of Midwifery & Women's Health with sentence identifying the journal as peer-reviewed
 

Research Articles

The main purpose of scholarly, peer-reviewed journals is to disseminate new research. Research is systematic inquiry to develop knowledge. In other words, we research in order to answer questions or solve problems (Polit & Beck, 2008). Articles that present research follow a consistent format to report how the research was conducted and what the results were. They have sections for an introduction, methods, results, and discussion, and will include references for sources cited in the article. See "Anatomy of a Research Article" below for further explanation of these sections.

Anatomy of a Research Article

If you cannot see this PDF, your browser may not support embedded content. Please use the PDF link below to access this material.

For an interactive view of research article elements, see the link below.

Quantitative vs. Qualitative Research

There are two types of research that research articles may be reporting. Quantitative research relies on a statistical analysis of collected data...i.e. numbers. Qualitative research focuses on the experiences of research subjects in their own words.

Quantitative and Qualitative Research Definitions
  • Quantitative research presents “numeric information that results from some type of formal measurement and that is analyzed with statistical procedures” (Polit & Beck, 2008, p. 16).
  • Qualitative research presents the “collection and analysis of subjective, narrative materials using flexible procedures” (Polit & Beck, 2008, p. 25).

Quantitative and Qualitative Research Examples

Let's look at some examples of quantitative and qualitative research articles.

Below is an abstract for an article describing a quantitative study:

article record for quantitative article, highlighting statistical terms View this article record in EBSCOhost: http://frontier.idm.oclc.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=cmedm&AN=16098887&site=ehost-live

Remember that the definition of quantitative research states that it involves some sort of formal measurement. The abstract of this article tells us that the Premature Infant Pain Profile was used to score pain levels. The definition also noted that information in quantitative research is analyzed with statistical procedures. The abstract uses statistical terminology such as t-test, chi-square, and Wilcoxen test. These are all types of statistical data analysis.

Now let's look at an article describing a qualitative study:

article record for qualitative article highlighting qualitative terminologyView this article record in EBSCOhost: http://frontier.idm.oclc.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=cmedm&AN=19824911&site=ehost-live

Notice that the title and abstract tell us that the study is about experiences of mothers and that they conducted interviews. This type of study is consistent with the definition of qualitative research as analysis of narrative materials. Content analysis was used to identify themes, but no numeric data is given.

References

Polit, D. F. & Beck, C. T. (2008). Nursing research: Generating and assessing evidence for nursing practice (8th ed.). Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.

Publishing Research Consortium. (2008). Peer review in scholarly journals: Perspective of the scholarly community--an international study. Mark Ware Consulting, Ltd. http://www.publishingresearch.net/documents/PeerReviewFullPRCReport-final.pdf.

Sataloff, R.T. (2009). Peer review: Universal, but valid? ENT: Ear, Nose, & Throat Journal, 88(4), 848-851. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F014556130908800402