Independent History Research Fellows Program: Secondary Sources: Books & Journal Articles

Scholarly books vs. scholarly articles

Aspect	Scholarly books	Scholarly articles
Focus	Broader -- overview of a topic (in-depth analysis) with a broad historical perspective.	Narrower -- detailed information on some particular aspect of a topic, but not much historical overview.
Quality control	Quality checked by editors (subject experts working for an academic publisher).	Quality checked during the peer review process.
Length	Longer -- most scholarly books average 200-300 pages.	Shorter -- articles typically run from 10 to 30 pages.
Sample	Lee, Erika. At America's Gates : Chinese Immigration during the Exclusion Era, 1882-1943. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2003. , https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/spenceschool/detail.action?docID=413340.	Lee, Erika. "The ‘Yellow Peril’ and Asian Exclusion in the Americas.” Pacific Historical Review 76, no. 4 (2007): 537–62. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/phr.2007.76.4.537 Edited Version

Journal Articles

What is a scholarly journal?

• Scholarly journals exist to disseminate new & important information within an academic discipline or professional field.
• Journal articles are written by experts who work within these disciplines and fields.
• Journal articles are aimed at an audience of other experts within that discipline or field.
• Journals often contain original research, studies, and experiments.

How can I identify a journal?

Look for: 

• Author credentials such as advanced degrees and professional/academic affiliations.
• Articles that are often substantially longer than articles in magazines and newspapers.
• Heavy use of discipline-specific vocabulary and concepts. 
• Extensive bibliographies of cited sources.

Scholarly articles are written by experts as a way to communicate their research findings and ideas to other scholars and researchers in the field.  Typically published in journals, scholarly articles (also called academic, peer-reviewed, or refereed sources) contain new and original research, while also building on the research of others.  These sources typically undergo a rigorous publication process that includes a peer-review system in which other content experts provide feedback on an article's content and methodology before the article is accepted for publication.

Using scholarly articles can help you:

• Build context around your topic and find evidence to support your arguments or ideas
• Interpret and analyze primary sources or historical events effectively
• Understand the scholarly conversation that already exists on a topic
• Identify other sources or authors that might be relevant to your research
• Develop your skills at assessing research material in the field

What are the most influential history journals?

Here are two lists of history journals (from JCR and SJR) that rank history journals by their impact on the world of research (based on number of times a journal article is cited).