African Sisters Education Collaborative (ASEC) at Rosemont College

Generally speaking, when someone says "scholarly," they mean material that is:

• Written by a holder of an advanced degree in the subject;
• Written for purposes of education and study;
• Thoroughly-researched and in conversation with the work of other scholars;
• Aimed at an audience of undergraduate college level or above.

Is it always easy to tell if something is scholarly?

• No! Sometimes there isn't a clear-cut answer.

What do I do if I can't tell?

• Ask a reference librarian!
• Ask your professor!

Books:

• Start by searching in the Library catalog. Most (though not all) of the books you'll find here will be scholarly.
• Other college libraries will also tend to have more scholarly collections than not.
• Avoid looking for books in public libraries unless absolutely necessary. The chances that these will be scholarly are much lower!
• If you've found a book in WorldCat, in addition to the criteria listed to the right, try checking the list of libraries that hold the item. Are most of them college libraries, or public?

Journals:

• The absolute best way to look for scholarly journals is to search only PEER-REVIEWED journals!
• When you're searching our electronic databases, there may be an option available to limit your results to peer-reviewed articles.