When gathering bibliographic references for research, one invariably comes up with more items than one can look at. How does one make a judgment about what is most important to read? The basic strategy, for both books and articles, is to look for two things: 1) the reputation of the publisher of the book/article , and 2) evidence of the influence of the book/article on other scholars.
For both monographs (books) and journal articles follow these guidelines:
- A work is considered influential if it is cited by many other authors. If you have noticed this work/author cited frequently in the things you have already read, that is a good sign of influence. A more systematic view of a work's influence can be assessed by using Google Scholar (see the box below). Take the year of publication into account when judging how many citations are needed to show the work has been influential. For example, if a work published in 1963 has only 12 citations to it by the year 2010, then this work has not been cited very much.
- The author has other works that are widely cited.
For monographs (books) also add this guideline:
- University press books are generally considered more scholarly than books from trade publishers. Among university presses, go first with the most prestigious universities (e.g., Harvard, Yale, University of Chicago, Stanford versus University of Tennessee). University presses are equipped with editorial boards composed of scholars who scrutinize manuscript submissions in a more rigorous way than trade publishers. Trade publishers, acting from a profit motive, tend to aim their products at the general public rather than at scholars and academic libraries.
- The book has favorable book reviews. Click on the Book Reviews tab to learn about finding book reviews.
For journal articles:
- Focus on articles in journals that are prominent academic journals (e.g., American Historical Review, History of Religions, the Journal of the American Academy of Religion), rather than something that is more of a popular magazine, or something obscure. Academic journals are ones that publish peer reviewed articles. A peer reviewed article is one that has been scrutinized by other scholars or experts (peer reviewers) in a field prior to publication. Peer reviewers look to see that an article
- conforms to accepted standards of a profession
- makes no unwarranted or irrelevant claims based on the evidence
- is free from unacceptable interpretations and personal views
It is sometimes difficult to assess the nature of a journal by its title alone. Don't hesitate to ask a librarian or your instructor for help.
