How do you identify a scholarly source? – Statisticsprojecthelper

1. Author

Is the author a scholar? Are the names and credentials of all authors provided? Also make sure to check if the author lists their affiliations (universities, hospitals, research institutions, think tanks, …).

Author affiliations of a scholarly article — The authors of this scholarly article all have affiliations at a University.

2. Publisher

Who is the publisher of the information? Is the journal publishing peer-reviewed articles? Is the date of publication evident? Either do a fact check on the website of the journal or publisher or check if the journal is indexed in bibliographic databases like PubMed, Web of Science, or Scopus.

3. Content

Who is the intended audience of the article? Check if the article is research-based and aims at creating new knowledge or if the purpose is merely to persuade, report, entertain, or inform the audience.

4. Language

Review the language and tone of the article. Is the language of the article formal, technical, and that of the discipline covered?

5. Structure

Does the article have an abstract or descriptive summary of its contents? How does the article look overall; does it have charts, graphs, and tables? Check if the article is well structured, if any research carried out is well documented, and if the conclusions are based on evidence.

6. References

Are sources cited in the form of footnotes or bibliographies? Is there a reference list at the end of the article like in the example below?

Bibliography of a scholarly article — At the end of a scholarly articles there is usually a list of references or a bibliography that contains the full bibliographic data of the references referred to in the text.

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