Your professor will give greater authoritative weight to an article on the Maya published in the scholarly journal American Anthropologist... than to an article on the same topic published in the National Geographic.

Why? Because in academia an article is not considered authoritative unless it is: written by experts documented with references evaluated by experts

Scholarly articles are written by experts in the field and are usually affiliated with a university or research institution. Examine your article. Does it list an author or authors? Does it list the author’s affiliations and/or credentials?

The author’s affiliation might appear at the top or bottom of the first page or at the end of the article. Some scholarly articles may not indicate affiliation or credentials

Scholarly articles must cite references as evidence to support their statements.

Examine your article. Is it accompanied by references? They are usually found at the end of the article.

How do references work? Authors cite references to support their statements.

Valid references increase the credibility and reliability of the statements.

Here is an example of a cited reference.

To be considered scholarly, articles must be evaluated by experts. This process is called “peer-review.”

Peer-review means that... experts in the field evaluate it to determine whether it is worthy of publication.

Peer-reviewers base their evaluation on: Contribution to new ideas Originality of research Current interest

How can I tell if the periodical is a peer-reviewed journal? Google the periodical website. It will state whether it is peer-reviewed in its submission policy. Or... ask your professor or a librarian.

Characteristics of a Scholarly Article Summary Written by experts, scholars, researchers, practitioners Accompanied by cited references Peer-reviewed by experts in the field Contains no commercial advertisements Assumes a level of knowledge in the field Written in a formal style