Guide to Ethnic Studies Resources

Find out what professors mean by "scholarly" research with this quick tutorial and comparison chart.

Scholarly books and journal articles (aka "peer-reviewed" or academic) are research conducted by experts in a field. These tend to be fairly complex and specific, and include substantial bibliographies.

Non-scholarly sources (aka "popular press") are usually magazine and newspaper articles. These are typically written for the general public in a relatively short, easy-to-read format without bibliographies. Most websites would be considered non-scholarly.

Some classes will require primary sources, firsthand material from a given time period such as diaries, letters, photographs, maps, or newspapers.