Research skills

Scholarly

   Non -Scholarly

Academic, peer-reviewed, or refereed sources written by

• academics or researchers who are experts in their fields and
• for other academics to read.

Non-scholarly sources are not written by experts or for an academic audience.

• often do not include any references, or
• only a few references in a informal style.                                                          

Sources can be in the forms of

• Journal article (print or in electronic databases) -  a scholarly journal. Its writing and focus is for a specific audience.
• Books (print or ebook) -  some books can also be considered a scholarly resource.

Note: Most of electronic databases, such as William Angliss Library subscribed databases, allow you to limit you search for peer-reviewed or scholarly journals.

    A scholarly journal          Book - A scholarly resource

Sources can be in the forms of:

• Newspaper article
• Magazines
• Government reports
• Most websites including Wikipedia, Google, MSN ...etc.

Note: These sources can be a good starting place to search for background information of a topic.                     

Magazines - non scholarly source