English 102 Researching Issues

How to tell if an article is peer-reviewed:

1. In Primo, they will be marked with a purple label. Narrow a search by clicking "Articles" or "Peer Reviewed Journals."

2. In some databases, they will be marked "scholarly" instead of peer-reviewed. Most of our databases have academic sources. Some have them mixed with other types of sources but you can filter the search.

3. You can Google the journal name and find the journal's home page, which will describe their editorial review process

4. You can often tell by the way a journal appears (long articles, bibliographies, no ads) and is organized (volume/issue)

How to tell if a book is academic or peer-reviewed:

1. check the publisher--is it academic (Google the publisher if not sure) or credible?

2. check who the author is

3. does it contain academic-style research and citations?

Our library has many academic & other credible books both in print and e-book form.

Why Peer-Reviewed?

What is an "academic" source exactly? You may also hear them called scholarly or peer-reviewed.  How do you know if you have one in front of you? Where can you find them?  What qualifies as one? Many of your professors will want to see academic sources, or will require only academic sources.
 

Academic works are non-commercial sources, as opposed to popular sources, which are sold in a commercial market. Popular sources are things like magazines, newspapers, websites, and commercial books.  They are trying to make money, which can lead to bending the truth, being sensationalized, preaching to the choir, or making biased and hyper-emotional arguments. They can also be unoriginal, superficial, or lack good sources to back up claims.  That is not to say there is nothing good in popular sources--they are great for learning about opinions, issues, current events, eyewitness accounts, and finding new ideas. We are reading many non-academic sources in this class that call attention to cultural problems and have insightful solutions and arguments. Many original and influential thinkers are writing outside of academia.  
 

Academic sources, however, offer something unique. They are not written for money--but for research and the pursuit of knowledge by experts and scholars, usually professors. They supposed to be objective, evidence-based, in-depth, and original, containing information you can't find elsewhere, that is cutting edge. That does not mean they can't contain bias, illogical arguments, or problems in worldview, but they are generally considered credible.
 

Types of Academic Sources:
 

1. Books (by academic writers and/or publishers, containing original research & extensive bibliographies)

2. Book Chapters (in collections, where each chapter is by a different scholar--each chapter counts as a separate source)

3. Journal Articles (in journals marked "peer-reviewed," as opposed to magazines or newspapers)

4. Reference Works (encyclopedias, dictionaries, glossaries, commentaries, or other works where you get quick info)

5. Dissertations and Theses (book-length research written by graduate students for PhD's or Master's Degrees) and

6. Conference Talks or Proceedings (lectures given at academic conferences)

There are three easy ways to tell if you have an academic source:
 

1. For books, check the publisher. Is it a university press or an academic publishing house? If not sure, look up the publisher online. There are also scholarly Christian publishers, like Eerdman's.  
 

2. For any source, check the author's credentials, degrees, current job, and other publications.  Is he or she an academic expert?
 

3. For journal articles, look for the purple label "peer-reviewed" in Primo (see image below), or the label "scholarly" in a database, or you can research the journal's reputation. Does it claim to be peer-reviewed, academic, or scholarly on its website?

"Peer-reviewed" means that other experts (peers of the author) have reviewed, checked, and corrected the research methods, logic, and conclusions, so you can be fairly sure the information is good, depending on the standards of the journal. 

Of course, conclusions in journal articles are sometimes later shown to be incorrect, and there have even been hoaxes where joke articles making ridiculous claims were accepted in supposedly scholarly journals. However, you will need to use them and know what they are.  Besides looking up the reputation of a journal, look at the article itself.
 

Journal articles are different from magazine articles visually.
 

Look for these clues if you are wondering if you have an academic journal article:
 

• Journal articles are long (10-20 pages single spaced),
• contain no ads, little color, and few images, except graphs or images used as evidence,
• have long bibliographies at the end,
• and cite tons of sources in the articles.
• They look a bit plain, but they contain original research and ideas. 
• They often have a long, detailed title and an abstract (summary) to tell you what they're about, so you can scan through them in a database and find relevant sources easily. 
• And, journals often have the word "journal" or "review" in the title to make it extra-easy for you to find academic sources (and to build their ethos as academic publications). An example is The Journal of Modern Literature or The Journal of Family Studies or The New England Journal of Medicine. 

There are Three Categories of Sources: Academic, Popular, & Primary
 

1. Academic Sources (also called Scholarly or Peer-Reviewed)

• Books, journal articles, and book chapters written by academic experts (also called "peer-reviewed" or checked by experts). Look for length, depth, originality, academic publisher, & extensive citations.  Journal articles are marked "peer-reviewed" in Primo.  
• "Reference" sources means brief information found in encyclopedias, dictionaries, glossaries, etc. The library has many of these academic sources, such as The Oxford English Dictionary, The Diagnostic & Statistical Manual 5, and Credo Reference database.
• Government sources and Think tank or Non-profit research may be counted as academic by some professors, as a press or web source by others, and can be very credible. Look out for any bias--but keep in mind, academic sources can be biased or false as well.

2. Popular sources are non-academic sources like newspapers, magazines, and books you see in a bookstore.  These can be helpful to understand the latest events, ideas, and arguments on a topic. They are often very influential and written by skilled researchers or academics.
 

3. Primary sources: original historical documents, artifacts, classic literature, pop culture, etc. (documents or artifacts that you interpret and use as evidence).  Search for influential documents, letters and speeches of famous people, or the text of a law, for example.

Scripture is a primary source, as is any work by a philosopher, artist, or literary writer, or the text of a legal document like a Supreme Court decision. These sources hold authority and can be a powerful way to back up your argument. 
 

What about non-credible sources?  Examples are AI and Wikipedia.  You should not cite these sources or plagiarize from them. Their information can be false (especially AI) and the author of the information is either unknown or not human.  However, you can get ideas from these sources, like an overview or a citation, as long as you can verify the information from a good source and cite that source.  

Have you ever been doing research and been asked to pay for an article? If you haven't been going through a library, the chances are good that you have.

Part of what the Library provides for you as a student is an access to information that you can't reach or find through Google. It might seem easier to use Google, but you are really shooting yourself in the foot as a student and a scholar if you miss the wealth of information available through the Library.

Besides that, the Library uses your tuition to purchase your access to hundreds of thousands of articles, e-books, & books, so why not use it?

Authority

A good source should tell you about who wrote the content. Does the author have authority on this topic?

Questions on Authority:

• Do the authors have education? Do they have relevant credentials or an academic position?  
• Do the authors have experience? Professionals or business people are not always "academic," but they have practical knowledge.

Accuracy

By looking at the editorial oversight of a publication we can be reasonably sure of its credibility.

 Questions on Accuracy:

• Are the claims presented supported? An idea shouldn't be taken as true unless there is quality evidence to verify it.
• Did the work undergo oversight? A quality work should be reviewed by an editor, or scholars in the field ("peer reviewed").

Objectivity

Rather than taking the conclusions of the authors at face value, try and discover the context for their reasoning. Is there bias?

Questions on Objectivity:

• What is the thesis or argument of the work? Is it stated clearly or just implied through biased word choice or cherry picking evidence?
• Alternate viewpoints should be discussed in a fair manner. Emotional or condescending speech often indicates a lack of objectivity.

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.   1 John 4:1 (NASB)