Question

How do you go about judging a source as scholarly? What are some examples of non-scholarly sources that students should avoid?

Answer 1

Scholarly sources are academic , peer-reviewed sources which are written by experts in that particular field, in order to provide relevant research material to researchers and students.

Points to be noted when judging a source as scholarly:

• Are written by researchers, scholars or faculty
• Language is disciplined
• The work is peer-reviewed
• Material is properly cited
• Are written for fellow experts

Some non-scholarly sources students should avoid are:

Newspapers

Magazines

These are not reliable sources of information and thus must not be used