Being able to recognize a scholarly source is an important part of doing academic research. Scholarly sources in History generally take the form of books, book chapters and journal articles. When evaluating a source for scholarliness, you should consider:

- Authority of the author and publisher - Consider the expertise of the author on the subject. Look for academic historians affiliated with a university. Look for publishers who specialize in academic writing.

- Process - Consider the process used to both create and publish the source. Is it based on original research? How can you tell? What was the editorial process? Was it peer reviewed?

- Purpose - What is the intended purpose of the source? Is it an in-depth analysis meant to inform other academics? Is it intended to entertain? Thinking about the intended audience of the source is often helpful. 
 

Common Sources Encountered in History

Scholarly book or monograph: Social policy and practice in Canada : a history
Books are often the best starting point for studying a historical topic that is new to you.

• May address multiple aspects of a large topic, for example, discussing the broader historical context of an issue or event in one chapter, with chapters on specific aspects of the issue, or a chapter on key historical figures in another chapter.
• Looking at the chapters in a book on a topic that interests you is a great way to narrow a research topic too. 
• Disseminate original research of the author
• It is important to know that in the discipline of History, books are an important form of scholarly publication and dissemination and should not be overlooked.

Scholarly journal article:  "An Atmosphere of Liberation: The Role of Decolonization in the France-Quebec Rapprochement of the 1960s"

• Most helpful once you have a basic understanding of a topic
• Tend to focus on a narrow topic
• Disseminate original research of the author

Popularly, non-scholarly article: "1918 - Year of the Conscript"

• May be informative as you try to choose or narrow down a topic for an essay, it is not a scholarly source and is generally not appropriate for academic use.
• Popular, non-scholarly magazines to be aware of:
  • The Beaver - the former name of Canada's History
  • History Magazine
  • History Today

Academic book review:  Métis in Canada: History, Identity, Law and Politics 

• very common in the field of History
• written by academios but are not peer reviewed 
• generally not appropriate for inclusion in academic writing, but useful for identifying helpful books

Recognizing Scholarly Source: 
Scholarly sources typically have the following characteristics:

• have been peer reviewed by other academics in the discipline
• written by an expert in the field, usually a PhD or similar in History or a closely related field
• the university/institution the author is affiliated with is listed 
• writing is formal and aimed at other experts in the field
• sources are cited throughout and are extensive
• lengthy; journal articles will be at least 10-12+ pages
• peer reviewed (Google the journal title if you aren't sure or it there is no peer reviewed label)
• scholarly books are published by academic publishers; look for for University Presses or Google the publisher to evaluate

Once you have a topic in mind, spend some time doing simple background reading on the topic. This will help you develop a basic understanding of the topic, and introduce you to important terms that may help your searches.

• Read some background information in a relevant encyclopedia or historical dictionary:
  • Canadian Encyclopedia
  • Oxford Reference Online
  • Dictionary of Canadian Biography - excellent starting point when studying historical figures.
• Note that because encylopedias and historical dictionaries are tertiary sources based on existing information rather than original research, and do not undergo peer review, they won't count as one of your scholarly sources. They can, however, be invaluable in getting a grasp on the broad topic you are studying.

Build your vocabulary: As you read encyclopedias and skim possible scholarly sources, read book/chapter and article titles carefully to help improve your search vocabulary. The larger and more flexible your search vocabulary, the more successful you will be. 

Be aware that language changes over time and also that ideas can be expressed in multiple ways: 

• This is particularly important if your topic relates to Indigenous people, where terminology has evolved considerably in libraries and in the field of History.
• Keep in mind that there are many terms used for the idea of the World Wars , e.g., World War II, Second World War, World War Two, etc.. Experiment with different terms in youri searches.

Use keywords and short phrases: Never use sentences or sentence fragments. Choose keywords that are vital to your topic. Use terms an expert would use, avoiding slang. Your course outline offers some good starting points.

• A good search: Canada (suffrage OR women's rights) 
• A poor search significance of women's suffrage movement in Canada 

Be prepared to broaden or narrow your search terms: If you are having trouble finding relevant information, consider broader topics or umbrella terms that you might use to get to relevant information. For example, a book on Indigenous women's history in Canada might include a chapter on Wendat women; a book on New France may include chapters on the economy, legal system, Indigenous relations and gender roles. 

Don't judge a book by its title: If a book or article shows up in your search results, there is a good chance it includes a chapter or section relevant to your topic, even if the title doesn't sound relevant. Do keyword searches within ebooks and articles, and use the tables of contents for print and ebooks.

Don't settle for the first results you find: the most relevant results aren't always on the top of the list or on the first page of results. Browse through for the best sources, not the easiest ones to find.

Use the MRU LibrarySearch tool - the search box on the library homepage - to find information in all formats (books, journal articles, encyclopedias etc.) simultaneously.

Try limiting searches by:

• using the sidebar options (e.g. limit results to only relevant subjects, or to preferred resource type, e.g., books)
• using the advanced search to search for important terms in the subject or title fields on the drop-down menus.
• refining results to only peer-reviewed sources (searches only within scholarly journals)

ACTIVITY: Find two books and/or journal articles on your topic in LibrarySearch. "Pin" them to a list and generate a Chicago style citation using the Cite It function.

Still looking for information or overwhelmed by LibrarySearch results? 

America History and Life is a database dedicated to journals related to North American history.

Try the Advanced Search, where you can:

• Limit searches by the historical time period discussed in the articles
• Search for terms in the title, subject or abstract of articles
• Exclude book review results or results in languages you are unable to read