In order to build a solid bridge that others can walk across you will need to start with a solid foundation of scholarly references. Ralph Waldo Emerson in his famous 1837 Phi Beta Kappa address at Harvard titled The American Scholar proposed that “the office of the scholar is to cheer, to raise, and to guide men by showing then facts amidst appearance” (Atkinson, 1992, p. 52). Ignoring the dated reference to gender, he does present an important difference between practitioner writing and scholarly writing, that is, the nature of the underlying knowledge that is being built upon – “facts amidst appearance.”

Although practitioner writing is often based on facts, it is also often full of appearances and anecdotal evidence.

What Qualifies as a Scholarly Reference?

Many adult learners ask, “What qualifies as a scholarly reference?” There are many answers to this question but one of the most commonly accepted definitions is scholarly references are articles from refereed journals and research studies including dissertations. For example, Business Week is not generally considered a scholarly reference but the Academy of Management Journal is. I am not against using practitioner references, however, they typically should not be the foundation of the paper but instead help supplement and complete the bridge from theory to application.

How Many are Needed?

Many faculty members say that they are looking for 15 to 25 such references for online course papers and 25 to 35 such references for directed study papers. Although the number varies among faculty members the bottom line is to have enough to provide an adequate foundation for your paper and make it a rich exploration of a variety of contributors.

Reference List

In a scholarly paper the reference list is not a bibliography. Only the references actually used to construct the paper should be included in the reference list. In addition, all sources included in the reference list need to be referenced in the text (APA 4.01 p. 215).

References

1. 1.American Psychological Association (APA) (2001). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association. (5th ed.). Washington D. C.: APA.
   

2. 2.Atkinson, B.  (Ed.) (1992). The selected writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson. New York: The Modern Library.
   

BACK                                                                                                                                                                                     NEXT