Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies: Research Tips

Peer-review is the key distinction between scholarly and non-scholarly sources.

In contrast to websites and books, scholarly sources are written by experts in a particular field and then reviewed by other experts in that field prior to publication. 

Other clues that an article is scholarly: 

• The article presents original research. This research (ex. empirical) often involves data analysis discussion common to the discipline.
• The article includes a bibliography or works cited page that directs you to related sources.

 The following questions can help you figure out if more is needed when searching:

• Have you searched all the major databases relevant to your topic?
• Have your checked the bibliographies of the sources found?
• Do you need to talk with a librarian?