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The LibGuide of your librarian for the day, AR (they/them).

Academic and General Articles Examples

Please skim both links. Skimming is going through and reading the beginning, the end, and then skipping through the middle for key words, terms, and phrases.

When Scientists “Discover” What Indigenous People Have Known For Centuries (linked here)
Listening to Indigenous Voices, Interests, and Priorities That Would Inform Tribal Co-Management of Natural Resources on a California State University Forest (linked here)

Consider which of these sources is general and which is academic. Review the information at the bottom of this page for more information. Be prepared, as a group, to provide two reasons for why each piece is either general or academic.

Please ask your AI these questions in this order

Share your topic with AI.
Ask AI (copy and paste)
1. Can you please give me the two most controversial articles on this topic, one with a DOI and one without?
2. Can you please tell me how these articles support my topic?
3. Can you please tell me how these articles argue against my topic?
4. Can you please tell me how these articles reflect a neutral perspective on my topic?
5. Can you please give me key words to search for my topic in my school's databases?
6. What databases would you recommend I use to learn more about my topic?

Opposing Viewpoints in Context
This Gale database provides information covering today's hottest social issues. It contains pro/con viewpoints, magazine & newspaper articles, scholarly journal articles, reference articles, and more.
This Gale resource provides more than 20,100 pro/con viewpoints covering today’s hottest social issues and more than 19,200 reference articles, including topic overviews, charts and graphs, and statistical information. It contains over 300 profiles of federal agencies and special-interest groups and offers a dedicated portal focused on the annual debate topic determined by the National Speech and Debate Association. It provides access to full-text newspapers and periodicals from multiple perspectives, including National Review, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Commentary, and CNN Wire. This is a great resource for background research on topics to gain different perspectives.

Parts of a Research Question:

Manageable – specific with enough information for the assignment length
Researchable –information exists to help answer it
Complex – not yes or no, answer comes from variety of sources
Arguable – others could reasonably disagree with your answer

Common Source Types

Source type

Audience

Type of information

Purpose

News/Magazine

(in print and online)

general audience who does not need prior knowledge of the topic

general audience with no or little prior knowledge of the topic

the most current information that is known at the time the article was published

usually short articles that cover a topic on the surface without a lot of depth or background

information and opinions about popular topics, current events, and social issues

short articles are on a surface level; longer articles may go more in-depth or cover a wide variety of perspectives on the topic

to inform readers about current events and issues usually at a surface level

to inform and potentially persuade an audience that has a particular interest in the topic or subject area

to provide an overview of many aspects of a broad topic

Scholarly/peer reviewed journal

(in library database or on the internet)

academic audience of scholars and experts in a field

articles written by scholars for other scholars often on a very narrow topic

articles are often peer-reviewed, or reviewed by other experts in the field for quality, originality, and value to the scholarly conversation on the topic

to share the results of a research study or in-depth analysis of an issue with other scholars

to participate in a scholarly conversation about a topic of research interest to the author