A selection of key journals on this topic, both Australian and international, are provided below. These journals are available electronically unless otherwise stated. Some electronic journals may also be available in print.
The library provides access to thousands of journal titles, both print and electronic. Electronic journal articles are often found through searching online databases of 'full text' articles, via publishers who aggregate the contents of thousands of journals.
Academic writing is not just confined to journals. Non-textbook academic sources such as monographs and books of edited readings may also contribute to the development of your ideas.
Nowadays, there is a lot of research literature openly available on the internet, that doesn't require searching through a Monash Library database. While it can be easier to search articles online, it also makes it difficult to gauge the 'worthiness' of individual articles. It is important to evaluate what you find to ensure you are using acceptable quality resources.
Peer review can be a lengthy process, so peer reviewed commentary on current events may be difficult to locate. Note that there are many quite scholarly or academic journals and conferences that are not peer reviewed.
Sometimes lecturers insist students locate and use information only from scholarly or peer reviewed journals. Trade and popular magazines generally are not considered scholarly resources.
Use the library databases to search the journals specified by the lecturer in the unit outline. Some databases allow searches to be limited to peer reviewed or refereed material, usually using a checkbox on the side panel menu. Use this function with caution as acceptable scholarly resources may be excluded. Some quite scholarly journals and conferences are not peer reviewed. Also, even though a journal title has 'peer review' status, it does not mean that every piece of the publication will have been peer reviewed, for example, editorial opinion pieces, book reviews, short news articles, etc. This means you need to carefully examine each article. Evaluating resources is a necessary part of the research process and requires critical thinking skills. You can use our checklist below.
Ulrichsweb.com is one tool which you can use to check whether a journal title is peer reviewed or refereed.
If you need more help, book a 'Meet with a Librarian' session.
A bibliography shows the sources used by the writer, and helps trace the 'evolution' of ideas. The reader can examine those sources in order to decide for themselves the validity of the conclusions presented. Sources that come from scholarly and peer reviewed publications would suggest that the article or conference paper might be a worthy contribution to the body of knowledge in that field.
Failure to acknowledge the source of ideas and passing them off as your own is 'plagiarism'. Plagiarism is defined as taking, using, and passing off as your own, the ideas or words of another. It is a serious academic offence and can result in your work being failed automatically. The best way to avoid it is to take careful notes of where you found your information, and to always acknowledge the work of others by finishing your essays with a bibliography.
Bibliographies from books, articles and conference papers are also a useful source of further references to use when writing essays and theses.
Literature that meets these criteria is often academic:
Articles from these publications are often NOT academic:
BUT, there are no absolute rules! Exercise critical judgement!
The more marks in the 'Yes' column, the more likely the article or paper is to be acceptable for academic purposes.
| Yes | No | |
|---|---|---|
1 Source of Content: |
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| A. Are sources cited or references provided in the source? This means parenthetical in-text citations or footnotes are provided, indicating where information and ideas were taken from and an extensive reference list is provided at the end of the source. If sources are not cited, stop! A source without references is not a scholarly source. | ||
| B. Is the source an in-depth treatment of its subject (usually several pages long with a lot of detailed information and in-depth analysis)? | ||
| C. Does the source have a thesis or argument or claim it’s trying to prove, or (if it's a report of scientific research) a conclusion drawn from the research? Most scholarly sources have a claim they are trying to prove, or a conclusion drawn from the research. | ||
| D. Does the source incorporate original research? Most scholarly sources are a combination of original research and analysis of earlier research, though in some cases they just review or summarize or analyze earlier research. | ||
2. Information about the publisher of the source: |
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| A. Is the source published by a college or university, or by a scholarly professional organization (For example, Journal of the American Medical Association, or American Quarterly, published by the American Studies Association, an interdisciplinary association of scholars who study American culture) | ||
| B. If your source is an article, is the journal it was published in peer-reviewed or refereed by other experts in the field? | ||
| C. Is the title of the source descriptive and specific? Scholarly sources usually have more informative titles than non-scholarly sources. An example of a very specific title might be "Understanding the social context of violent and aggressive incidents on an inpatient unit," whereas an example of a general title might be "The Medicated Child." | ||
| D. Is the title of the source specialized? Titles of scholarly sources are usually addressed to specialized audiences. An example of a specialized title might be "Genetically Modified Crops and Risk Assessment in the UK," whereas a nonspecialized title might be "Multinational Companies Unite to Fight Bribery." | ||
3. The authors of the source: |
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| A. Is the author a scholar/expert/specialist in the field? Does the author have an advanced degree? Scholarly sources are usually written by people with advanced degrees in their field. Degrees are often listed after the author's name (Ph.D., M.D., M.A., etc.). Journals often provide descriptions of the author's credentials at the start of the source or in a separate "Notes on Contributors" section. | ||
| B. Is the author affiliated with a college or university? Scholarly sources are usually written by professors at colleges or universities. Authors' affiliations are often listed at the beginning of the source, right after the author's name. | ||
| C. Have the authors declared any conflict of interest or bias? For example, a conflict of interest would be a person who wrote an source on the benefits of smoking, but works for a tobacco company. | ||
4. The audience of the source: |
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| A. Is the source addressed to other specialists in the field? Scholarly sources are usually addressed to other specialists in the field. This might take the form of assuming the reader knows what the issues, debates, controversies or questions in the field are. | ||
| B. Does the author of the source write as if the reader already knows the basics of the topic? Scholarly sources usually assume familiarity with the topic. This might take the form of mentioning names, titles, or ideas as though the reader already knows who or what they are. | ||
5. The language and appearance of the source: |
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| A. Is the language of the source specialized? Does it use technical vocabulary or concepts? Scholarly sources usually use specialized or technical language. | ||
| B. Is the tone of the source serious, written to inform or persuade, not to entertain or amuse? | ||
| C. Does the source, and the journal in which it appears, consist mainly of large blocks of text, with few graphics or other visual elements to break it up? Most scholarly sources are primarily text, unless they include graphics whose purpose is to convey information, such as charts and graphs. | ||
| D. Is the format plain and simple? | ||
| E. Are the graphics included to inform rather than entertain? | ||