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English Composition II: Scholarly Literature

Types of Scholarly Literature

What is Peer Review?

Types of Scholarly Literature

Peer-reviewed (or refereed):  Refers to articles that have undergone a rigorous review process, often including revisions to the original manuscript, by peers in their discipline, before publication in a scholarly journal. This can include empirical studies, review articles, meta-analyses among others. 

Empirical study (or primary article): An empirical study is one that aims to gain new knowledge on a topic through direct or indirect observation and research. These include quantitative or qualitative data and analysis. In science, an empirical article will often include the following sections: Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion.

Review article:  In the scientific literature, this is a type of article that provides a synthesis of existing research on a particular topic. These are useful when you want to get an idea of a body of research that you are not yet familiar with. It differs from a systematic review in that it does not aim to capture ALL of the research on a particular topic.

Systematic review:  This is a methodical and thorough literature review focused on a particular research question. It's aim is to identify and synthesize all of the scholarly research on a particular topic in an unbiased, reproducible way to provide evidence for practice and policy-making. It may involve a meta-analysis (see below). 

Meta-analysis:  This is a type of research study that combines or contrasts data from different independent studies in a new analysis in order to strengthen the understanding of a particular topic. There are many methods, some complex, applied to performing this type of analysis.

 

(Adapted from Scholarly Literature Types, Cornell University)

Additional Business Literature

In addition to scholarly literature, the business world also has two additional types of literature:

Case Studies: These studies are detailed studies over a specific subject and are used to describe, compare and evaluate aspects of research problems. The goal of the case study is to provide a better understanding of aspects of research problems. They are often conducted on people, groups, places, events, organizations, and even phenomenons. 

Annual Reports: This report is a comprehensive accounting of a companies activities from the previous year. They are used to inform shareholders and others about the companies financial performance and its activities.