Comm 390: Research Methods in Communication

What is a scholarly article?

A scholarly article is how researchers (scholars) communicate the findings and analysis of their research. Scholarly articles:

• Provide original research and analysis - these articles are based on studies or experiements, or analyze an artifact or event. Every scholarly article presents something new about the world we didn't know before.
• Are written by scholars - scholars tend to hold PhDs, or other advanced degrees and are professors at universities.
• Are published in peer-reviewed journals - you won't find these floating about on the internet, they have to be published in a journal. Most times you'll find them in the library databases.
• Might be hard to read - they act as the primary conversation between scholars about a field of study. Since they are written by scholars, for scholars, they contain specialized language that might be hard for the lay person to understand.

Example peer reviewed journal article

• Levine, K. J., & Aley, M. (2021). Career Barriers Affecting First-Generation College Students: Can Socializing Messages Increase Career Confidence? Southern Communication Journal, 86(5), 498–510. https://doi.org/10.1080/1041794X.2021.1970795, from Communication Source database