Writing · Writing: Research, Forms and Conventions

Research II: Finding and Reading Scholarly Sources and Literary Criticism

1.3About 70 minutes

Learning goals

I can tell scholarly sources from popular ones and explain why each is useful.
I can find scholarly articles, books and chapters through library databases and scholarly search tools.
I can read a scholarly article strategically to find its thesis, its evidence and the conversation it joins.
I can recognize the structure of a literary studies article and of an IMRaD research article.
I can map what critics say about a text so I know where my own argument fits.

Words to know

scholarly source
A work written by experts for other experts, with citations, usually reviewed by other scholars before publication.

popular source
A work written for a general audience, such as a newspaper article, magazine feature or blog post.

literary criticism
Writing that interprets, analyses or evaluates literature; in research, usually means published scholarly interpretation.

abstract
A short summary at the start of a scholarly article giving its purpose, method or approach, and main findings or argument.

IMRaD
Introduction, Methods, Results and Discussion: the standard structure of many science and social-science articles.

university press
A publisher run by a university that publishes peer-reviewed scholarly books.

edited collection
A book of chapters by different scholars, chosen and introduced by an editor.

critical conversation
The ongoing exchange of arguments among scholars about a text or topic.

open access
Scholarly work that anyone can read free online.

A conversation already in progress

The American critic Kenneth Burke compared scholarship to arriving late at a lively discussion in a crowded room. People have been talking for a long time before you arrive. You listen until you understand what the argument is about, then you add your own contribution. Someone answers you. Eventually you leave, and the conversation carries on.

That is what university research is: joining a conversation. In Grade 12, especially in an ISU, you are expected to listen to that conversation by reading scholarly sources (published criticism and research), and then to place your own argument in it. This lesson shows you where scholarly conversations happen and how to read them without drowning.

Remember from Grade 11

You learned that peer-reviewed articles are checked by other experts, that library databases give free access with a library card, that citation chaining (backward through reference lists and forward through Cited by links) finds related sources, and that sources can be primary, secondary or tertiary. This lesson adds the kinds of scholarly sources used in literary research and a strategy for reading them.

Scholarly or popular?

Both kinds are useful. You need to know which you have.

Scholarly sources are written by experts for experts. They use specialized vocabulary, cite many other sources and are usually peer-reviewed before publication. They give you deep analysis and the critical conversation.
Popular sources are written for the general public: newspaper reviews, magazine features, author interviews, podcasts. They are edited (in reputable outlets) but not peer-reviewed. They give you reception (how readers and reviewers responded), background and the author's own comments.

A strong ISU usually uses both: scholarly criticism for analysis, and popular sources for context and the author's voice.

Feature	Scholarly source	Popular source
Author	Named expert, often a professor, with affiliation	Journalist, critic or staff writer
Audience	Other scholars and students	General readers
Citations	Many, with a Works Cited or notes	Few or none
Review	Usually peer-reviewed	Edited, not peer-reviewed
Length and style	Long, dense, specialized vocabulary	Shorter, accessible
Best use in an ISU	Interpretations to agree with, extend or challenge	Reception, background, author interviews

Use the feature list as a quick check. A source can be reliable without being scholarly, and the right choice depends on what you need it for.

Kinds of scholarly sources in literary research

Journal articles. Usually 15 to 30 pages, peer-reviewed. Some journals specialize in one period, region or genre; Canada has journals devoted to Canadian literature.
Scholarly books (monographs), often from university presses such as University of Toronto Press or McGill-Queen's University Press. You will usually need only one chapter.
Chapters in edited collections. Several scholars write on one theme or author. The editor's introduction often maps the whole conversation, so read it first.
Scholarly editions of a text, with an introduction, notes and sometimes selected criticism at the back. Ask your librarian whether your text has one.
Reference works such as literary encyclopedias and The Canadian Encyclopedia. They are tertiary sources: excellent for background and keywords, but not the critical argument you engage with.

Where to find them

Your school and public library databases. Many include literature and humanities collections with full-text articles. Search by title of the work, author and your concept: ("Station Eleven" OR Mandel) AND (memory OR art).
Scholarly search engines such as Google Scholar. They show Cited by counts (a rough sign of influence) and often link to a free version of the article. If a result asks you to pay, do not pay: check your library database for the same title, or ask a librarian.
Open-access journals and university repositories, where scholars post free copies of their work.
Library catalogues for books and edited collections. Many public libraries can borrow books from other libraries through interlibrary loan; ask at the desk, and ask early, because it can take weeks.
Citation chaining, the Grade 11 tool: one good article's Works Cited is a list of the most relevant older sources.

Recent texts may have little scholarship yet. Then search for criticism on the genre, the theme or the author's earlier work, and use reputable reviews and interviews.

Reading a scholarly article strategically

You do not read a scholarly article like a novel, from the first word to the last. Read it in this order:

Title and abstract. What is the article about, and what does it argue? Decide whether it is relevant at all.
The end of the introduction. In literary articles the thesis usually comes after the author describes the critical conversation (Critics have read the novel as... but...). Find three things: the conversation, the gap (what earlier critics missed), and the thesis.
The conclusion. What does the author say their argument changes?
Headings, and the first sentence of each section. Map the argument.
Then read closely only the sections you need, with a pencil or a notes document. Flag passages from your primary text that the critic discusses, and their reading of them.

As you read, keep asking: What is the claim? What evidence supports it? Who is this author agreeing or disagreeing with? Could I agree, extend or push back?

Science and social-science articles (useful when your ISU touches history, psychology or the environment) often follow IMRaD: Introduction, Methods, Results and Discussion. Read the abstract, then the discussion (what the results mean, and the study's limitations), then the methods if you need to judge how good the evidence is.

A literary article's argument lives in the introduction and the conclusion. The body sections are where the critic proves it through close reading. The Works Cited is your map to more sources.

IMRaD articles move from a broad problem to a narrow study and back out to what it means. The Discussion is where authors admit limitations, which you need for evaluating them.

Map the conversation

After you have read three or four critics, make a quick conversation map: each critic's name, year, main claim, and how they relate to the others (agrees with, challenges, extends). Then ask: where does my working thesis sit? Do I agree with one critic and apply their idea to a second novel? Do I challenge a reading? Do I notice something nobody has discussed?

That is what your ISU contributes. In Lesson 6 you will turn a conversation map into a short literature review.

Each critic responds to earlier ones. Your essay enters the same conversation by agreeing, pushing back or filling a gap, which is why you need to read the critics before you finalize your thesis.

Worked example

Let's find the conversation, the gap and the thesis

This abstract is invented for practice about a real novel: Critics have read Emily St. John Mandel's Station Eleven mainly as a pandemic novel, focusing on collapse and survival. This article argues that the novel is better understood as a meditation on art's afterlife. Reading the Traveling Symphony's performances of Shakespeare alongside the novel's comic book, I show that the novel imagines culture surviving not as a monument but as something fragile that has to be performed and passed on.

Find the conversation. Critics have read... mainly as a pandemic novel, focusing on collapse and survival. That is what earlier critics said.
Find the gap. The word mainly signals that they missed something: how the novel treats art.
Find the thesis. This article argues that the novel is better understood as a meditation on art's afterlife. The phrase better understood tells you the author is pushing back on earlier readings.
Find the evidence. The author will use the Traveling Symphony's Shakespeare performances and the comic book that appears in the novel.
Decide how you might use it. For Priya's ISU on storytelling and community, this critic offers an idea she can extend: if Station Eleven treats culture as something performed and passed on, she can test whether The Marrow Thieves treats stories the same way, or differently.

Conversation: critics read it as a pandemic novel. Gap: they overlooked art. Thesis: the novel is a meditation on art's afterlife, where culture survives only by being performed and passed on. Use: an idea to extend to the second novel.

Hands-on activity

Read like a scholar for twenty minutes

You need: a device with internet access and, if you have one, a public library card (a grown-up can help you sign up for one, often online).

Choose a book you have read or are reading for your ISU.
Search a scholarly search engine and, if you can, a library database, for the title plus one concept (memory, land, family, power).
Pick one result that looks scholarly. Use the table in this lesson to check: author's expertise, citations, journal or university press.
Read it strategically: abstract, end of introduction, conclusion, headings.
On one page, write: the conversation (what others said), the gap, the thesis, one passage from the primary text the critic discusses, and how you might use it (agree, extend, push back).
Copy the full citation details now, so you never have to find the article again.

What to look for: a source that really is scholarly; a thesis in your own words; a clear sense of what the critic argues against; a planned use connected to your question.

Just for fun

Scholarly articles often have titles with a colon, like Ashes and Echoes: Memory, Art and Survival in Post-Catastrophe Fiction. The rule seems to be: one clever phrase to get your attention, then a colon, then the part that tells you what the article is actually about.

Your turn

Is a newspaper review of a new novel a scholarly or a popular source? How could it still be useful?

Name three kinds of scholarly sources used in literary research.

In what order should you read a scholarly article to decide quickly if it is useful?

What three things should you find in the introduction of a literary article?

What does IMRaD stand for?

A search result in a scholarly search engine asks you to pay $40 for an article. What should you do?

Your ISU text was published two years ago and has no scholarly articles. Give two other kinds of sources to look for.

More practice: warm-up

Who usually writes a scholarly article?

What is an abstract?

What is a university press?

Where in an IMRaD article do authors usually discuss their study's limitations?

What does a Cited by count tell you?

More practice: on your own

Read this invented sentence from an introduction and name the gap: Previous readings of the novel have focused on its father-son relationship; little attention has been paid to the landscape that the two men cross.

Why might the introduction of an edited collection be the first thing to read in it?

A critic argues that a novel's ending is hopeful. Your working thesis says the ending is deeply uncertain. Describe two honest ways to use this critic.

Write a search string to find criticism on Richard Wagamese's novel Medicine Walk and the theme of land.

Explain why a strong ISU usually uses both scholarly and popular sources.

Challenge

Write a three-row conversation map (critic, year, claim, relationship) for invented critics writing about one novel, then write one sentence placing your own thesis in it.

A classmate cites a scholarly article's abstract but has not read the article. Explain two risks.

Compare how you would read a literary criticism article and an IMRaD psychology study for an ISU on memory in two novels. What would you look for first in each, and why?

Check your understanding

Quiz

Which is most likely a scholarly source?

In a literary studies article, the thesis is most often found:

What does the Discussion section of an IMRaD article usually include?

A scholarly search result asks for payment. The best first step is to:

Which phrase in an introduction most clearly signals a gap in the critical conversation?

Why read the introduction of an edited collection first?

For parents and teachers

Big idea: in Grade 12, students move from general sources to scholarly sources: peer-reviewed articles, academic books and published literary criticism. The skill is part of Writing expectation 1.3 (locating and selecting information to support writing). Reading scholarship is hard at first because it is written for experts, so this lesson teaches a strategic reading order.

How to help: ask your teen to explain one critic's argument to you in two sentences: what other critics thought, and what this critic says instead. If they can, they have understood it. A public library card unlocks databases and interlibrary loan; requests can take weeks, so encourage early searching.

Common difficulties:

Treating any website as scholarly because it looks serious.
Reading an article from start to finish and giving up halfway. The strategic order saves time.
Citing only the abstract without reading the article.
Finding critics and summarizing them, but never saying how the student's own argument relates to them.

Never pay for an article; libraries provide access free.