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ESOL100 - Assignment Guide

What are "Academic" Articles?

For the purpose of this assignment, "academic" sources are any background or scholarly articles, as long as they come from the Library’s databases. You will need a combination of "scholarly" and "background" articles to meet the research requirements for this assignment.

Where to Find More Academic Articles

What is "Background" Information?

  • Background information includes definitions, basic facts, context, and history. Different background resources have different distributions of each for a given topic.
  • Doing background research to get background information makes the rest of the research process easier.
  • Even though doing background research might seem so familiar as to be trivial, it's an important part of the research process.
  • To learn more about background information, check out the following tutorials:

What are Scholarly Journal Articles?

  • Scholarly publications are written by experts in specific fields, containing original research and analysis. They undergo rigorous peer review, ensuring high-quality and reliable information.
  • Scholarly articles are collected in scholarly journals (also called academic, peer-reviewed, or refereed journals), which are platforms for academics to share their research with their scholarly community.
  • To learn more about scholarly articles, try the tutorial below:

Scholarly Sources VS Popular Sources

Scholarly Sources

Picture of the cover of the American Journal of Psychology, which is blue with some yellow lines.

Popular Sources

Picture of the cover of Psychology Today which is a sheep in glasses.
  • Author: Written by experts (scientists, professors, scholars) in a particular field.
  • Audience: Written for other experts in a particular field.
  • Language: Very technical and scholarly. Not easily understood.
  • Citations: Provide complete and formal citations for sources.
  • Review Process: Often reviewed by a panel of scholars in the field being studied. (Peer-Reviewed)
  • Author: Written by professional writers, journalists, or members of the general public.
  • Audience: Written for the general public.
  • Language: Basic and clear. Easily understood.
  • Citations: Provide informal or no citations for sources.
  • Review Process: Reviewed by an editor or self-published with no formal review process.

REMEMBER: Popular DOES NOT equal bad. Check with your professors to find out which popular sources they accept.

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