How Do You Know if You Can Use a Popular Source in a Research Paper

Tips to place whether a source is scholarly and reliable

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It is important to observe apparent sources of information while researching for articles and other scholarly material to write an essay, a research paper, or any other academic task.

Unremarkably, the resource are collated and compiled from a variety of sources such every bit newspapers, books, periodicals (journals and magazines) and websites. Some of these resources are considered pop sources whereas the others are considered scholarly sources.

When conducting literature search, do you feel uncertain about a source's authenticity and credibility? In this article, we focus on identifying 'scholarly' sources for obtaining reliable information to be presented for bookish work such equally class assignments, dissertation, or thesis writing.

Tips for referring to popular sources

Newspapers and magazines are considered as 'popular' sources. They cater to a broad audience and have manufactures that are written by professional writers (for case, a announcer who might not exist an good in the field) in a more full general mode using mutual/pop language; these do non follow any specific format and rarely have references or endnotes.

Books and journals, on the other hand, are considered 'scholarly' publications which are intended for specialist readership of researchers, academics, students, and professionals. They publish in-depth articles and reviews on specific topics written by specialists and researchers in subject field expanse who apply technical, subject-specific jargon. Autonomously from having a standard format, these publications are always accompanied by tables/figures and previously published articles as references.

Although pop sources are not without merit and may also contain well-considered writing, the purpose of distinguishing between these types of works is to decide their degree of say-so and depth of research on a given topic, and thereby their intrinsic academic value. If the project at hand allows it, you could depend on reliable popular sources.

Tips for referring to scholarly sources

Scholarly sources are as well referred to every bit academic, peer-reviewed, or refereed sources. These are the sources researchers rely on. So let us discuss the three categories to which such scholarly sources belong - journals, books, and online resources.

1. Journals

An article published in a journal will have the following characteristics:

Authors: Names of the authors with their academic credentials, institutional affiliation, accost, and electronic mail addresses are provided alongside every publication. Make sure that the author(s) and/or corresponding author(south) are experts in the field, are affiliated to an unbiased reputable arrangement or credible bookish institution/academy, have had previous publications in peer-reviewed journals or books for which references can be found.

Publishers: Publishers are usually bookish publishing houses, universities, research organisations, professional bodies, or other recognised regime producing research.

Basic data, such every bit the names of the editorial board members and the Editor-in-Chief, is mentioned on the journal's website. You volition also observe information about the guidelines followed past the periodical; for instance, Committee On Publication Ideals (COPE) or International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). Examples of some well-known publishers include Springer, Elsevier, Taylor & Francis, Wiley-Blackwell Publishing, SAGE Publishing, Macmillan, American Association for the Advancement of Science, Nature Publishing , etc.

Here are certain things yous must look at when ascertaining the credibility of a journal:

• Make certain that the contact details and 'about' data is provided. Sometimes, the journal might exist associated with institutions or societies. Wait them upwardly on the internet to go more than information. Wait out for the type of peer review the journal offers, and if all the details about their policies, licenses, and copyright terms are mentioned.
• Ensure that the information on the journal website has been recently updated and the links provided are up to date and working. Always check whether the journal website is part of a commercial organisation, a political party, or an system with a specific agenda, which might effect in the information on the website being biased.
• Writer guidelines: The types of manufactures published by the periodical and the guidelines to prepare the manuscript, artwork, and supplementary materials should be clearly indicated on the journal website.
• Journal metrics: Some journals offer information on their influence such every bit Eigenfactor, SCImago rankings, CiteScore, Source Normalized Impact per paper (SNIP), etc.
• Abstracting/Indexing: Always ensure that the journal in which the commodity is published is indexed and abstracted in reputed databases like Clarivate Analytics,  MEDLINE/PubMed, Scopus, EBSCO, PsycINFO, IEEE Explore, SciELO, CiteSeer X , etc.

Content: The content of the article is targeted towards a specific audience in that subject area. The article generally follows a format or construction including abstract, keywords, introduction, methodology, results, discussion, conclusion, bibliography. The length of the article may vary depending upwardly on the periodical guidelines. Extensive reference to by research is a key feature of bookish works. References are cited both in-text and recorded in footnotes or in a reference list at the end of the article; recent relevant references of the by 3-five years is a adept indicator of a scholarly article. Scholarly manufactures commonly contain illustrations in the form of graphs, charts, and tables to draw the results of the research work.

The content should be non-biased and provide a very objective review or report on a particular topic stating both strengths and limitations of the written report. Articles with numerous typographical mistakes, grammatical errors, or other inaccuracies are non reliable. Search for the citations of the article on library databases or on Google Scholar.

2. Books

Books have been a source of data from fourth dimension immemorial. The following points should exist borne in mind while scouring books for scholarly content:

Authors: Always check the credibility of the author by verifying the biography details. Ensure that the writer is an proficient in the field of study, confirm the writer's institutional affiliation, other publications of the writer, and check if the publisher stands to benefit from the research or argument presented in the book.

Publisher: Books published by university presses, professional person or trade associations, government offices, institutes, enquiry centres, and reputable commercial publishers are ordinarily trustworthy and accept scholarly content. Searching for book reviews online, which can provide clues as to whether a source is scholarly and highlight the intended audition, can be useful. Visit the publisher'south website and find out more than information well-nigh the publisher to ensure that it is not a vanity printing.

Content: Checking for the post-obit aspects can give a fair idea as to the authenticity and relevance of the book for scholarly information:

• Does the title of the book indicating its specificity of the topic?
• Multiple editions bespeak the book is well-regarded plenty to have been through revisions, and has been updated.
• Scrutinizing the preface and introduction of the book helps in assessing the author'due south perspective and the presence of any biases in the book.
• Scanning the table of contents, abbreviations, and alphabetize is helpful to know what facets of the subject/topic the book covers.
• Browsing the publication dates of references and/or a bibliography can help in assessing the reliability and accurateness of the data given in the volume.

3. Websites : Online search is the nigh pop and user-friendly way to find information. However, circumspection should be exercised while procuring information from whatever website. Here are some tips:

Actuality: URLs or website addresses tin reveal the following information:

• Regime sites use .gov and .mil domains. Educational sites use the .edu domain. And not-profit organizations use .org whereas business organisation sites use .com. Generally, .gov and .edu sites are considered more trustworthy than .org and .com sites.
• Browse the spider web page for a proper noun, electronic mail address, or the "Well-nigh Us" or Contact Us" page to decide who created the site. Using search engines will aid you in obtaining biographical information well-nigh the publisher of the website.
• Usually, symbols like ~ and %, or words like 'staff' and 'students' are often used to signify a personal website and are plant on the site URL. They might evidence upwards in official areas, just might non be officially sponsored past that grouping since students and faculty are ofttimes granted their own private space on academy or school websites. Information on such websites frequently consists of personal opinions and might not be fully reliable.
• Searching for the history, the funding, and the focus of the organization supporting the website helps in ascertaining the actuality of the website.

Content: Surveying the content of the website can reveal a lot about the intent of the information presented:

• Check for the timeframe/timeline and geographical location that the topic addresses; cheque when was the website created and updated to ensure that the information presented is up-to-date.
• Scan the website for the types of links and citations that are present on the website. Read the contents of the website carefully to determine that the information and facts added value to the topic and are non prejudiced, manipulative, or distorted.

Conclusion

Describing and discussing correct and error-free information is a vital part of any academic writing. We hope that the pointers given in this article will assistance you in finding valid sources of scholarly material. It is always a good idea to cheque with the librarian and library databases of the institution/university for authentic scholarly sources. While the verification process may take a chip of your time and endeavor, beingness certain of the actuality of your sources volition aid y'all advance in your task with more confidence.

Related reading:

• Gathering useful resources for time to come publication
• Tips for effective literature searching and keeping upward with new publications

Published on: Jul 31, 2018

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Source: https://www.editage.com/insights/tips-to-identify-whether-a-source-is-scholarly-and-reliable

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