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Faculty and Staff Services

Find Background Info

Find Background Information student tutorial

After this tutorial, students will be able to:

  • Gather and organize background information on their topic.
  • Use websites, social media, periodicals, books and general library databases to gather information on a topic.
  • Cite sources correctly.

Find Books & Articles

Find Books & Articles student tutorial

After this tutorial, students will be able to:

  • Use a research outline to search for scholarly sources on their topic.
  • Search the library catalog for books, articles and videos.
  • Search library databases for scholarly articles.
  • Cite sources correctly.

Is it Scholarly?

Is it Scholarly? student tutorial

After reviewing this chart, students will be able to:

  • Distinguish between scholarly, trade and popular publications.

Criteria

Scholarly Journal

Trade Journal

Popular Magazine

Sample Cover

Behavioral neuroscience

Monitor on psychology

Psychology today

Audience

Academics and professionals

People in the business

General public

Authors

Experts or specialists (PhD). Unpaid.

Staff writers, industry specialists, or vendor representatives. Paid.

Journalists, staff writers, or freelance writers. Paid.

Frequency of Publication

Often 4–6 issues per year, but could be more or fewer.

Often monthly.

Weekly or monthly.

Editorial Review

Journal editorial board and peer reviewers. Unpaid.

Professional editors. Paid.

Professional editors. Paid.

References / Works Cited

Always—with footnotes or a bibliography.

Sometimes

Rarely

Chart adapted from NCSU Libraries: https://www.lib.ncsu.edu/tutorials/scholarly-popular/

Credit where Credit is Due

Credit where Credit is Due

After this tutorial, students will be able to:

  • Understand why they should cite their sources.
  • Identify resources to help them write citations.
  • Recognize plagiarism.

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