Finding Academic Sources

What are academic sources?

Academic sources (also known as scholarly) can take many forms.  Click on the links below to look at two of the most common examples.  No need to read, just scan the structure and first page of each.  

Scholarly Journals or Journal Articles -  This research article "Required and Non-Required College Physical Activity Classes Effect on College Students' Stress" was co-authored by CMU professor of Kinesiology Dr. Elizabeth Sharp and published in the American Journal of Health Studies.

Scholarly Books and Book Chapters - This chapter "Constantly Connected: Managing Stress in Today's Technological Times" is from an ebook in the library's collection Handbook of Research on Human Development in the Digital Age.

Characteristics of Academic Sources

• Created by experts, often for others in the same field of study
• Published by an academic press or an open access publisher
• Sources are cited, and the sources referenced often are also scholarly

Activity 

Take a few minutes to look more closely at the two examples above in this reflection:

Reflection on Academic Sources

Look at the two example academic sources

Required and Non-Required College Physical Activity Classes Effect on College Students' Stress  and

Constantly Connected: Managing Stress in Today's Technological Times

and answer these questions:

1. What do you notice about the authors?

2. What do you notice about the language used?  (For example, is it slangy or analytical or emotional or balanced?)

3. How do the authors of the article on physical activity handle information from other sources?