How do I know if a website is considered a scholarly resource?

Answer

Very few websites would be considered scholarly resources, although sometimes they do contain (or link to) scholarly content.

One option is to look for an "About" page on the site to see if they describe their review process; do they say that their content is peer reviewed (you should rarely rely on generic claims about "expert authors")? Also, it is very important to know who the actual author is: are they explicitly named? Do they have scholarly credentials (are they affiliated with a university or do they have appropriate degrees listed: PhD, JD for law, MD for medical, etc)?

As for The Mayo Clinic, while it is a highly respected medical facility that has and continues to produce high-level scholarly research, most of the material on their website is anonymous, and provided for informational, rather than research purposes. There is a tab for Research, which includes an option to search for articles in scholarly publications, however, this option merely allows you to do a limited search in the PubMed database, which can be searched fully by looking in the Article Databases by Title link on the Library Homepage.

For additional information, check out our page on evaluating internet resources

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  • Last Updated Aug 15, 2019
  • Views 232
  • Answered By CSUDH Library

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