LibGuides: BIOL 110 Walsh: Article Databases vs. the Internet

What is a Scholarly Article?

Scholarly articles are written by experts in the field and, additionally, peer reviewed by a panel experts in the field. They tend to include a lot of research and data, and the information in the article is backed up by a list of references.

Example of a Journal with Scholarly Articles

Popular articles are often written by journalists for a general audience and are not reviewed by experts in the field. Popular articles rarely include references.

Example of a Magazine with Popular Articles

For more detailed information on what a scholarly article looks like, see the excellent tutorial Anatomy of a Scholarly Article.

Article Databases vs. the Internet

Library Databases	Internet Search Engines
Types of Information Retrieved
Scholarly journal articles Popular magazine articles Newspaper articles Reference book articles (e.g., directories, encyclopedias) Books No sponsors or ads	Few free scholarly journal articles, popular magazine articles, and books. Popular web sites (e.g., Wikipedia, Facebook) Commercial web sites (e.g., eBay, Amazon) Government, educational, and organizational web sites (e.g., Library of Congress, JSRCC) Current news & information (e.g., CNN) Email, chat (Gmail, AIM) Many sponsors and ads.
When to Use
Best for college level research. When you need to find credible information quickly.	Best for personal information needs including shopping and entertainment. When you have time to more carefully evaluate information found on the open web.
Creditability / Review Process
Articles and books written by journalists or experts in a professional field. All material in database is evaluated for accuracy and credibility by subject experts and publishers. Reviewed and updated regularly.	Lack of control allows anybody to publish their opinions and ideas on the Internet. Not evaluated (for the most part). Need to more carefully evaluate web sites for bias, accuracy, and completeness. Many sites are not updated regularly and can become outdated.
Will it be there next week? Will it look the same?
Most material remains in the database for a signicant length of time and can easily be retrieved again. Published content from journals, magazines, newspapers and books does not change.	Website content can often change. Web pages and sites may disappear for a number of reasons. You may not be able to retrieve the same content later.