Why We Use Scholarly Articles

One of the reasons our instructors want us to use scholarly articles is because of the peer-review process. Scholarly articles take a long time to write, and then they go through the peer-review process before publishing, which assures an added level of credibility and trust. Another factor in their favor is that they're written by and for experts and scholars. When we read them, we're getting to be a part of a larger conversation that's happening between experts all over the world. 

We use scholarly journal articles when we need:

  • Original, primary research on a specific topic
  • Articles and essays written by scholars or subject experts
  • Factual, documented information to reinforce a position
  • Bibliographies that point us to other relevant research (IRIS 4-2).

Primary and Secondary Sources

Scholarly journal articles often report the results of original research that the scholar carried out themselves. This is called a primary source; in other words, it's the first source reporting this particular research. Other examples of primary sources are records of daily life (like diaries, letters, photos, recordings, etc.), documents like the U.S. Constitution, or a speech.

Secondary sources are articles that write about the primary source. For example, if Professor A does research on a group of people to discover how social media sources like Facebook and Twitter affected their voting decision in the 2020 election, her scholarly article reporting the research results is a primary source. Then a journalist for Time magazine reads the research study, and decides that more people need to hear the results of the research, so he writes a shorter article explaining the main points from Professor A's article, making sure to use language that's easier for the general public to understand. This is a secondary source. (IRIS 4-2)

Learn more about primary and secondary sources.

IRIS 4-2: Copyright (c) 2008 IRIS 4-2 Washington State E-Learning Council. This material may be distributed only subject to the terms and conditions set forth in the IRIS 4-2 Open Publication License (the latest version is presently available at http://library.clark.edu/projects/iris-4-2 Links to an external site.) and TILT Open Publication License (copyright © 1998-2004 by The University of Texas System Digital Library).