Year 12s: what will be the first way you research your future options? >>

Sourcing help? [Difference between an analyst and a scholar]

Okay stupid question but its been a wee while since i've had to do any sort of referencing XD

Anyway I was talking to my supervisor today and got an ear bashing for threatening to use a source list of mainly political analysts as opposed to 'scholars' would someone please enlighten me as to the practical difference between the two when it comes to sources?

Reply 1

University of East Anglia PG Student Rep

Official Rep

Original post by Napp

Hi there!

I may be able to help you out here, but to be sure I say the right thing - would you be able to link me to an example of one of your 'analyst' sources?

In my experience, scholarly sources are ones found in peer-reviewed academic research journals - some scholarly sources I cited in a recent assignment include the 'Journal of Monetary Economics', the 'German Institute of Global & Area Studies', and the 'Global Governance' journal, to name a few. That's the flavour of academic backing that is normally attributed to 'scholarly' sources.

Like I said above, I'd need to have a look at an example of your analyst sources - but in my mind the work of a political analyst is not peer-reviewed by other specialists, is not always fully referenced, and lacks some technical language that can be found in scholarly work.

Another key distinction is the target audience - next time you approach a source, ask yourself "Is this written for an academic audience, or a general audience?" If it seems like its written for the average consumer, its probably not scholarly.

Hope this has cleared things up for you! :h: