Scholarly vs. Non-Scholarly Sources - EDC 201 - Early Childhood Discipline: Growth and Development

Instructions

Print out two Checklists - one for Article One, Book One, and Website One. Another for Article Two, Book Two, and Website Two.

Examine resources and circle Yes or No where appropriate.

Scholarly vs. Non-Scholarly Characteristics

CHECKLIST OF SCHOLARLY CHARACTERISTICS

Books

	Scholarly	Non-Scholarly
Is the author / editor an expert in his/her field?	Yes	No
Is there a bibliography at end of chapters or the end of the book?	Yes	No
Does the book contain footnotes?	Yes	No
Does the overall tone/content appear scholarly?	Yes	No

Articles

	Scholarly	Non-Scholarly
Is there an author?	Yes	No
Is there more than one author/editor?	Yes	No
Is the author / editor an expert in his/her field?	Yes	No
Is there a DOI (Digital Object Identifier)?	Yes	No
Are the articles long? (5 or more pages?)	Yes	No
Is the emphasis on text? (Few if any pictures)	Yes	No
Are there charts and graphs?	Yes	No
Is there a bibliography at the end?	Yes	No
Does it contain footnotes?	Yes	No
Does the overall tone/content appear scholarly?	No	No

Web Sites

Websites are seldom “scholarly.” Instead the user often has to choose between a source of “reliable” and “unreliable” information.

	Reliable	Unreliable
Is the person or organization responsible for the website identified?	Yes	No
Does the website cite its sources?	Yes	No
Is the person or organization responsible for the website an expert in the content presented on the site?	Yes	No
Does it cite reliable sources to support its argument?	Yes	No
Does it sound open minded and fair?	Yes	No
Is the general appearance of the website (graphics/spelling) well maintained and of good quality?	Yes	No
Does it avoid commercialism?	Yes	No

Checklist of Scholarly Characteristics - Downloadible

Evaluate these resources - Scholarly vs. Non-Scholarly. Reliable vs. Unreliable.

Article One
Kipman, Kühberger, A., & Pletzer, B. (2019). Activity‐oriented teaching of stochastics in elementary school. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 89(1), 131–145. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjep.12226
Article Two
Mahnken. (2019). A Risk for Pushing Pre-K Teachers to Earn a College Degree. The Education Digest, 84(6), 61–.
Ebook One
Murawski. (2010). Collaborative teaching in elementary schools: Making the co-teaching marriage work. Corwin Press. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781452219332
Ebook Two
Orr. (2017). 100 Ideas for Primary Teachers. Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.
Web Site One
Web Site Two

Exceptions To The Rule

Few resources check all the Yes boxes or all the No boxes.

Many resources will exhibit a mixture of characteristics.

If unsure about an article or book, the most important characteristics of "scholarliness," is the presence of a bibliography.

What is 'Peer-Reviewed?"

What is peer reviewed? Some publications have editorial boards consisting of experts in the field who review articles for reliablilty and scholarship.

Example of a Peer Review board:

Tips on Finding Scholarly Resources

1. Avoid the internet.

2. Use Thrift Library Resources.

3. Limit your results to Peer Reviewed. (See below)

4. Determine that your resource contains most of the characteristics listed on the checklist to your left.

Peer Review Limiter - Located on left side of OneSearch screen

In an electronic environment it is not always possible to tell if an article is peer-reviewed by looking at the article. It is easier to limit your results to Peer-reviewed Journals in OneSearch with an easy click so that you are only looking at articles published in peer reviewed journals.

However...

This only only tells you your article was found in a scholarly journal. Scholarly journals sometimes contain both scholarly and non-scholarly content.
There is no scholarly limiter in OneSearch for books or eBooks

Articles from Peer Reviewed journals found in OneSearch will display a purple icon in the lower left corner.

Google Scholar

About Google Scholar
Google Scholar is a way to search the internet for scholarly resources. While many are located behind a paywall, they can be ordered for free via Interlibrary Loan.

Scholarly vs. Non-Scholarly Powerpoint

Scholarly vs. Non-Scholarly Resources (Powerpoint)
Research isn’t just about finding information. Research is about finding scholarly information. To do that you have to be able to separate the good from the bad…

EDC 201 - Early Childhood Discipline: Growth and Development: Scholarly vs. Non-Scholarly Sources