What's so "Scholarly" about Scholarly Sources?

Your teachers will often ask you to use scholarly sources for your papers and projects. Many of the Library's databases consist entirely of scholarly articles, for instance, JSTOR, PsycArticles, and Medline. Nearly all the other databases have an option on the search screen to limit your search to all scholarly (all peer reviewed) results.


But what is it about a book or an article that makes it scholarly? "Scholarly research" boils down to a system for verifying facts and logic. It's a set of checks and balances to prevent errors, nonsense, and lies from being passed off as good information. A scholarly researcher first learns the ideas and findings of others in the field. The researcher then develops a hypothesis and designs and implements a methodology to prove or disprove that hypothesis.

Scholarly also means "by scholars and intended to be read by other scholars." Popular sources have articles that are intended to be interesting and comprehensible for as many people as possible. They have to leave out some details and simplify others. Scholarly sources have more detailed, advanced, sophisticated information. And it's closer to the source, not translated for you by another non-expert

@Google Talks

Google regularly hosts events that invite authors, filmmakers, musicians, chefs, architects, educators, and all sorts of other notable figures to speak about what it is that makes them interesting and relevant. The Google Talks series is a fascinating and educational glimpse into the work of these people, and you can follow all of the lectures on their Youtube channel.

Here are some notable videos to check out:

*Ann Rice discussing her latest novel, "The Wolf Gift"
*The MIT OpenCourseware Project on their model of free educational distribution
*Justice Sandra Day O'Connor speaking on the current state of politics and legal system
*Archived videos of political candidates
*A performance and discussion with Cirque du Soleil Totem's cast and producers 

And over a thousand others are available. It's a really fascinating and fun way to learn and expand your horizons. Check it out!

Library Mobile Site...in Beta

We at the library know that lots of students, faculty, and staff are accessing the Internet from mobile devices. Since our library's website doesn't have many mobile-friendly features, we decided to try out a free service in order to make one for our users. It's currently in "unofficially official" status, as we're still working out the bugs, but take a look at the page for yourself:  http://bit.ly/semstatelib

We're really excited about it. Since there's no redirect link from our library's website, make sure to bookmark the mobile site on your mobile device's browser to have easy access. You may also access the site via the QR code posted to the right. And lastly, please tell us what you think- will you use it? What would make it more useful? 

Taking Notes in Class

Have you ever been sitting in class, furiously scribbling down every word the professor is saying and thinking to yourself “there HAS to be a better way to do this!”?
Brett & Kate McKay on the blog The Art of Manliness, offer some great study and note-taking tips:

So how do you know what the professor’s main points are? Pay attention to cues your professor gives off either consciously or subconsciously. Here are a few cues your professor may give during the lecture. Whenever you see them, it probably means he’s saying something important, so write it down.

• Anytime the professor says, “You need to know this,” or “This will be on the test.” Duh.
• Anytime the professor repeats himself.
• Anything the professor writes on the board or includes in a Powerpoint slide.
• Anything the professor repeats very slowly so that it can be taken down word for word.
• If your professor starts talking more quickly, or loudly, or with more emphasis.
• Watch for language that shows relationships between ideas. These sorts of points are often where professors get their exam questions from:
  • first, second, third
  • especially, most significant, most important
  • however, on the other hand
  • because, so, therefore, consequently

There are some great tips on the page, as well as the comments. What are some of your best study or note-taking tips? Share them here!

"journal or "article"

A common source of confusion at the beginning of doing research is simply mixing up the terms "journal" and "article." Journals are a kind of periodical like a magazine, that comes out periodically, say once a month, or every other month... The difference between journals and magazines is that journals are scholarly, something your professor might publish an article in for example. The "journal" is the bigger thing; you find articles in the journal.

Magazines are more popular, like something you might buy in the check out line at Publix. Think Better Homes and Gardens, People, and Time magazine.

The confusion is that sometimes we have people saying things like "I want journals on the death penalty." What they really mean is that they want articles from journals that are on the subject of the death penalty. The thing is that if you want articles, go to an article database, like Academic Search Complete or JSTOR; if you do happen to want to know where a certain journal is, that's a different question, and the answer is to go to the journal listing on our home page to see what database it is in, or go to the second floor where we have 178 in paper format, including newspapers.  Hopefully this all makes senses, but if not, just ask one of us for help.

Current information

A student was looking the other day for information in the JSTOR database on President Obama's policy on current affairs in the Middle East. The problem though is that JSTOR is a collection of scholarly journal articles, and journals by their nature are analytical, reflective, looking back at the issue or topic after the fact. This thoughtful sort of analysis is why professors often prefer students to use journal articles.

However, if you want information about things happening now, for example Obama and events in Syria, the place to look is in newspapers and magazines. They come out more often, daily or weekly as opposed to monthly or even bimonthly for journals. Their focus is on contemporary events and news. Good sources for this sort of thing would include: Americas Newspapers,  our biggest collection of online newspapers; Academic Search Complete (but do not check the box for scholarly lit., leave it unchecked to get the newspapers and magazines!), and Newspapers Direct for international papers.

Finding articles or books is not rocket science

You don't have to be a "rocket scientist" as they say to do research, but finding that journal article or book, those stats and so on, can be an interesting challenge at times. The library resources you have available are extensive, which is great, but because there is so much, and it is located in all sorts of different places and formats, it can be a little tricky to know what to do or where to go sometimes.

So don't be shy about asking for help, that's what they employ us for! You can get assistance from the information desk on the main floor (on your right as you come in the library,) and that desk is open all hours the library is. You can also chat with us via the library home page chat window, email us, phone us at 407-708-2305, make research appointments, so one way or another you should be able to get the help you need.
By the way, that actually is an early picture of a NASA rocket scientist, Donald Raymond Frenk, Sr. who literally invented the rocket propulsion system that would be the foundation of  NASA's rocket drives.