What is considered to be a scholarly website?

Question

I am taking a Mexican-American History class and for certain assignments I need to get my information from a scholarly website. How do I know if the website is scholarly or not?

Answer 1

It usually means a website where you can trust that the information is true. Some clues to look for on the website:

Citations of print sources (either on a separate page or woven into the information given).

A copyright page (or copyright information) that tells who wrote it, and when. It's not always a good idea to use a website just because it has a copyright page though. Look for sites that are written by professors at well known universities (you can also use the URL: For example, if the URL contains usc.edu, the site is written by someone on the USC network).

Those two factors usually me to help determine whether a website is scholarly or not.

Personally, I only use websites that I know well, such as Encarta online (http://encarta.msn.com/) or Encyclopedia Britannica online (http://www.eb.com/). Many other encyclopaedias have online versions, which are either free or charge a monthly fee. You can sometimes use their "free trial period" to do research for a specific project.

Goverment websites (with a .gov on the end of the homepage URL) are also a good option, depending on your research topic.

Another good resource (although not a website per se) is online databases of scholarly articles (from print sources like journals, newspapers and magazines), such as EBSCOhost, JSTOR, and PROQUEST. Check to see if your school has memberships to these (or others) and if you can get a username and password to access them from home.

I would be careful about using Wikipedia because anyone can post anything, and there is no regulation except for other people fixing the false information.

Good luck!

Answer 2

Scholarly Website

Answer 3

Click onto various University sites and search for discussions
in your field. Any website that is devoted to the history of
Mexican-Americana will by it's nature be scholarly. It will
deal with facts and serious theories, historical and cultural
aspects along with current population trends and their political.
ramifications. A trip to the library can be very useful in this
regard as it will provide you with photographs and charts
that you normally wouldn't get on a website. A scholar is
one who makes a profession of learning, hence, scholarly.