Sometimes people will use the term "scholarly source" to mean any highly reliable source suitable for use in an academic or scholarly setting. This might include materials from sources such as discipline-specific encyclopedias, reports and data from the U.S. Government, the United Nations, NATO, or webpages from reputable universities or professional organization, to name just a few. When in doubt, consult your professor to see whether a particular article is acceptable.

Peer-Review

Sometimes you will be told you need to find peer-reviewed, academic, or scholarly sources. The peer-review process for scholarly writing is intended to provide rigorous vetting for accuracy and ensure the article provides value to the field of study.  Learn more by watching or reading below.

You can watch Peer Review in Three Minutes ad-free on the NC State University Libraries website, with a transcript.

Many library databases will offer a filter to limit your searches to only peer-reviewed, or academic/scholarly articles, that is often a useful way to ensure you are looking at a peer reviewed journal.

Note the Anatomy of a Scholarly Article details on this page, and use these clues with your article to determine if it is scholarly.

If you are unsure whether or not a publication is peer-reviewed, you can search for the name of the journal and look for information provided to authors, for example, here is Nature's Editorial Criteria and Processes which makes it clear that they use a peer-review process.

You can always ask a librarian for assistance with determining if a source is peer-reviewed. 

* Peer-reviewed journals may include non-peer-reviewed content— book reviews, letters to the editor, essays, or editorials.