FYS 120K: Life with AI

LibKey Nomad

Research and Instruction Librarian for Student Success

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302 Rolvaag Memorial Library
1510 St. Olaf Avenue
St. Olaf College
Northfield, MN 55057

507-786-3642

Subjects: Africa and the African Diaspora, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Race and Ethnic Studies, Sociology/Anthropology

Distinguishing Source Types

Information Resources serve a variety of purposes and may take many different forms. Finding the most useful resource for your research project depends on the type of work you are doing and the assignment parameters set by your instructor.

Defining resource types is challenging because of the variation across disciplines; what counts as a primary or secondary source in one field might not count the same way in another field. The following distinctions are offered as general guidelines. If you have questions about a particular resource, consult with a librarian or your instructor.

Popular vs. Scholarly Resources

	POPULAR	SCHOLARLY
AUDIENCE	General public, non-specialized	Academic, specialized
PURPOSE	Entertain, Persuade, Inform	Educate, Disseminate Research
CITATIONS	Informal attribution, citations rare	Always include formal citations
EXAMPLES	News or Magazine articles, Blog posts, Most websites, Wikipedia	Journal articles, Academic books, Conference proceedings

Check out this interactive tutorial created by Ann Schaenzer which helps illustrate the differences between scholarly and non-scholarly articles.

Primary vs. Secondary vs. Tertiary Resources

	PRIMARY	SECONDARY	TERTIARY
INFORMATION	New/Novel/Unique	Interpretive	Reference
AUTHOR/ CREATOR	Original Source	Commentator	Editor or Unknown
EXAMPLES	Theories, Theorems, Theses, Dissertations, Research Reports/Articles, Conference Presentations, Original Artwork or Music, Poems, Letters, Interviews, Diaries, Autobiographies	Book Reviews, Interpretive Articles, Textbooks, Literary Criticism, Analyses, Commentaries, Biographies	Encyclopedias, Dictionaries, Almanacs, Manuals, Indexes, Fact Books

Understanding the Scholarly Publication Process

What are scholarly articles?

Scholarly articles (also called peer-reviewed articles) present new ideas, refute earlier ideas on a particular topic or expand on previous ideas. They are created by scholars and represent a conversation among thinkers in a particular discipline.

What is the peer-review process?

Researchers write an article and submit it to a scholarly journal (also called a refereed journal or a peer-reviewed journal).
The journal editors send the article to other expert researchers in the field, known as peer reviewers.
The peer reviewers read the article and make a recommendation regarding whether the article is worthy of being published in the journal. They will consider factors such as the significance of the research findings and the quality of the scholarship. They will typically also suggest changes to improve the article.
The journal editors decide whether to publish the article based on the peer reviewers' feedback. Often, they will ask the authors to make changes suggested by the peer reviewers before the article is re-considered for publication.

Be aware that not everything published in a scholarly journal is a peer-reviewed article. Scholarly journals also include book reviews, editorials, and other content that has not been peer-reviewed.