When you use the library for research, you will often hear the term "resource," but what is a resource? A resource is the book, article, video, or image that you use in your coursework as supporting evidence or information. Sources can be described as popular or scholarly, depending on their audience, review process, and content. To learn more about identifying popular and scholarly information sources, please watch the video below from the Oregon School Library Information System.
To recap, here are some resources that you may encounter in the library catalog:
The main difference between scholarly and popular resources is that scholarly resources take more time to produce and publish, due to their more rigorous vetting process. Not only does research take time, but the authors must go through an editing process with their review team before the article will make it to a journal. When a group of experts on a particular subject reviews information prior to publication it is known as peer review. Our catalog and databases can help you filter for scholarly information by selecting the peer review filter, or limiting your search to academic journals.
Scholarly sources are those produced and reviewed by people with recognized expertise in a particular field of study. Scholarly articles are found in scholarly journals - sometimes called peer-reviewed journals. Your library subscribes to databases that provide these academic resources.
To find a scholarly article in a database you can often check a box that limits your search to peer-reviewed journals. This box is sometimes found on a Basic Search, but almost always on an Advanced Search in a database.
Ways to identify a scholarly or peer-reviewed article: