LibGuides: MKT 346: Marketing Research: Scholarly Sources

ACCORD method to evaluate sources

A = Agenda	What is the author's purpose? Who is the target audience? Is the purpose to educate or advertise?
C = Credentials	Verify the author's background including degrees, teaching experience, etc.
C = Citations	Is there a list of sources cited? What kinds of sources? Are provided links active?
O = Oversight	Is the information peer-reviewed/refereed? Verify using the journal or publisher's website.
R = Relevance	Is the data relevant to your topic? Does the information answer your questions?
D = Date	When was the information published or last updated? Do you need current or historical data?

Evaluate Scholarly Sources

What are Scholarly/Academic/Peer-reviewed Sources?

Scholarly/academic/peer-reviewed sources are sources written by experts and are reviewed by experts in the field before the article is published.

Why Do I Need to Evaluate Scholarly Sources?

You may consider scholars with subject expertise have authority in the area of your research topic and thus produce only good sources. However, like all types of sources and authorities, scholarly sources vary a lot by date, scope, method, and etc, making only some of them appropriate to cite in your research. Scholarly sources may have totally valid evidence but not so relevant to your research.

How Do I Evaluate Scholarly Sources?

Finding a good scholarly source to use can sometimes be a messy process, but below are some questions you can ask yourself in order to determine if the academic article is worth using in your research.

Date: Some topics, such as those in the health sciences, require current information. Other subjects, such as geology, value older material as well as current. Know the time needs of your topic and examine the timeliness of the article; is it:
- up-to-date,
- out-of-date, or
- timeless?
Usefulness: Is the article relevant to the current research project? A well-researched, well-written, etc. article is not going to be helpful if it does not address the topic at hand. Ask, "is this article useful to me?" If it is a useful article, does it:
- support an argument
- refute an argument
- give examples (survey results, primary research findings, case studies, incidents)
- provide "wrong" information that can be challenged or disagreed with productively
Impact: Scholars have combined standard research metrics, like scholarly output and citation counts, into formulas to measure and assess author and journal impact in new ways. There are usually different types of metrics for different purposes, but in general, you can pay attention to
- the number of times an article was cited to evaluate the scholarly output of a scholar
- the number of times articles published for a journal to evaluate the impact of a journal
- metrics in databases as shown below

More information about factors to consider when evaluating scholarly articles

More information about understanding impact

How to Read a Scholarly Article

Scholarly sources often have a particular writing style and can be challenging to read compared to other types of sources. When reading scholarly literature, read strategically. Don't start by reading the article from start to finish but rather focus on the sections that will give you the information you need first. This will quickly let you know what the article is about and its relevancy for your research. It will also prepare you for when you’re ready to read the full article, giving you a mental map of its structure and purpose.

Here is a suggestion on how to read a scholarly article and which sections to focus on first.

How to Read a Scholarly Article

Read the abstract An abstract is a summary of the article, and will give you an idea of what the article is about and how it will be written. If there are lots of complicated subject-specific words in the abstract, the article will be just as hard to read.
Read the conclusion This is where the author will repeat all of their ideas and their findings. Some authors even use this section to compare their study to others. By reading this, you will notice a few things you missed, and will get another overview of the content.
Read the first paragraph or the introduction This is usually where the author will lay out their plan for the article and describe the steps they will take to talk about their topic. By reading this, you will know what parts of the article will be most relevant to your topic!
Read the first sentence of every paragraph These are called topic sentences, and will usually introduce the idea for the paragraph that follows. By reading this, you can make sure that the paragraph has information relevant to your topic before you read the entire thing.
The rest of the article Now that you have gathered the idea of the article through the abstract, conclusion, introduction, and topic sentences, you can read the rest of the article!
To review: Abstract, Conclusion, Introduction, Topic Sentences, Entire Article