Determine Scholarly Source

Is there a way to determine Scholarly Source when searching in Logos?

I am currently pursuing an MDiv. In one of my classes, the professor told me that one of my sources was not Scholarly (A.W. Pink). I have used this author in other classes as a resource for research papers.

Is there a definitive list of authors who are considered Scholarly? If so, is there a way to filter a search?

Thanks!

Find more posts tagged with

Comments

MJ. Smith

Welcome to the forums. No, there is no definitive list. However, there are some clues - footnotes, bibliography, author's academic credentials. But even academics can write popular books and there are self-taught scholars who lack credentials.

David Thomas

Is there a way to determine Scholarly Source when searching in Logos?

No definitive list exists, some Seminaries have compiled lists of best resources - https://library.tiu.edu/commentaries is the list from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. Check with your seminary library.

If you go to bestcommentaries.com and select a book of the bible, then you can search by "technical" commentaries to get the top "scholarly". I had a prof who said he wants to see the top 10 of best commentaries on a text and the top 5 "technical" commentaries for any paper he grades.

JT (alabama24)

I am currently pursuing an MDiv. In one of my classes, the professor told me that one of my sources was not Scholarly (A.W. Pink). I have used this author in other classes as a resource for research papers.

You <should> be able to submit a preliminary bibliography for his/her perusal. I would send an email early on in your research phase.

Mark Barnes

I am currently pursuing an MDiv. In one of my classes, the professor told me that one of my sources was not Scholarly (A.W. Pink). I have used this author in other classes as a resource for research papers.

Is there a definitive list of authors who are considered Scholarly? If so, is there a way to filter a search?

Different people will have different standards as to what they consider scholarly. I've created my own collection, and it's easy to restrict a search to that collection. I would recommend you do the same.

My collection is actually made up of several separate collections. I have collections for theological journals, academic encyclopaedias and lexicons. I have another for technical commentaries. The final one is scholarly monographs, which is selected mainly on the basis of the publisher. It's not foolproof, but most imprints tend to stick to scholarly titles, or avoid them altogether. You should be able to get a good idea of what publishers are considered scholarly by looking at the reading lists of your seminary.

Here's my academic monographs collections rule:

-type:(bible-commentary, journal, magazine, bible, dictionary, encyclopedia,lexicon, media, devotional,interactive) -{Series "Logos Mobile Education"} (({Author "Evans, Craig A.", "Dunn, James D. G.", "Wright, N. T."}, {Publisher "American Academy of Religion", "Apollos", "Biblical Archaeology Society", "Bloomsbury", "Brazos", "Brazos Press", "Brill", "Cascade", "Continuum", "Eerdmans", "Eisenbrauns", "Fortress Press", "Hendrickson", "Jewish Publication Society", "Magnes Press", "Mellen Biblical Press", "Mohr Siebeck", "Pickwick Publications", "Pontifical Biblical Institute", "Sheffield Phoenix Press", "Society of Biblical Literature", "St Vladimir’s Seminary Press", "T&T Clark", "Wipf & Stock"}, publisher:(Academic, University), {Series "Acadia Studies in Bible and Theology", "Ancient Christian Writers", "Classics of the Radical Reformation", "The Classics of Western Spirituality", "Contours of Christian Theology", "Great Books of the Western World", "Lexham Methods Series", "The Loeb Classical Library", "New Studies in Biblical Theology"} AND pubdate:>1950) OR {MyTag "academic"})

If you need more help on collections, please ask.

David Thomas

publisher:(Academic, University),

THANK YOU!!

Does the section of the query I quote above catch all the publishers with "Academic" or " University" in their name? i.e. IVP Academic, University of Chicago?

Mark Barnes

publisher:(Academic, University),

THANK YOU!!

Does the section of the query I quote above catch all the publishers with "Academic" or " University" in their name? i.e. IVP Academic, University of Chicago?

Yes, that’s right.

Erik DiVietro

Generally speaking, a scholarly source is one which is:

Written with academic review or academic society as the audience.
Written by a person with sufficient academic standing to validate their views.
Utilizes primary and scholarly sources correctly.

This does not mean you cannot cite non-scholarly sources; but the views must be supported by scholarly sources. So, for example, if Pink makes an astute observation, you can cite it in your research. But you must then validate it with properly research.

Reuben Helmuth

Here's my academic monographs collections rule:

-type:(bible-commentary, journal, magazine, bible, dictionary, encyclopedia,lexicon, media, devotional,interactive)...

Mark, did you intentionally leave "grammar" out of the exclusion list?

Mark Barnes

Mark, did you intentionally leave "grammar" out of the exclusion list?

Yes (although I appreciate it's a matter of personal preference). Intermediate and advanced grammars can be useful to me in academic research, particularly exegetical work, and I don't have enough of them to make it worth creating a separate collection. So I lump them in here.