EAES1207 (Silvergieter)

Academic & Scholarly Books

The Library collection includes books published by scholars in many fields. Not every book on our shelves is academic, or scholarly source. To find out if a book is scholarly, consider these criteria:

• Authority/credibility of the author, e.g., what are his/her qualifications on the topic?  Do they work in the field?  Have they published other work on this topic?
• Purpose of the book, e.g., is it meant to share research amongst other researchers in the field?  Or was it written to entertain or provide general information?  Is the focus of the book one particular topic?
• Intended audience for the book, e.g., fellow researchers or the general public?
• Who is the publisher,  e.g. Is the publisher a university? Does the publisher usually publish academic books/textbooks?  Or is most of their work for the general public?
• Citations, e.g., does the book include citations for all its sources?  Is there a list of all references cited?