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EVR 2001: Introduction to Environmental Science

Types of Resources: Scholarly, Popular, Academic

Figuring out whether or not an article is scholarly/academic or popular can be tricky. Here are some clues to help you out.

Clues that is might be scholarly:

  • Written for an academic audience or written by an academic audience
  • May come from a journal (look at the publication information)
  • May contain an abstract, introduction, literature review, methods, discussion, conclusion section

Clues that it might be academic, but not scholarly:

  • Website ends in a ".edu"
  • It is not scholarly if it does not meet the criteria mentioned in the above section
  • Remember: Information can still be credible and academic, but that does not mean it's scholarly

Clues that it might be popular:

  • Written for a general audience so the language is not as elevated
  • Examples include Buzzfeed, Huffington Post, New York Times, Newpapers, Magazines, and Blogs

Examples:

Scholarly Not Scholarly Credible, but not Scholarly
Journal of Environmental Science National Geographic, 
New York Times		 University websites (.edu)
Ecology Journal CNN, Fox News, PNJ Government Agencies (.gov)
Nature Research Forbes Professional Organization websites
(ex. AHRQ)

Still not sure? Ask a librarian for help!

Top Picks for Finding Articles

Steps to Finding Articles

Locate a database from the list to the right (e.g., Environmental Science Collection--ProQuest)

Search the database with keywords using filters to limit dates, types of resources, other terms, etc.

Use the full text links (pdf versions are preferred) within the database to view article

Use  or to link to full text articles available in other databases

Check the list of ejournals and the library catalog to make sure UWF does not own the journal you need