Is USA Today a Scholarly Source?

Question

I am doing an essay on how rising fuel costs are affecting owner-operator truckers. I cannot find a lot of sources though. Must are magazines and newspapers. I found some really good ones but they are USA Today. It was under the opinions sections and does not list an author.

http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2008/04/our-view-on-ene.html

Answer 1

Hardly, if they do not list the name of the author, then chances are they are just the opinion of some of the readers, which hardly makes them scholarly.

Answer 2

Once the USA was a scholarly state.  We had Lincoln, Emerson, Thoreau, Whitman, Frost and many others.  At present it seems the number of scholars are much less because, I think, the Americans have turned out to be more materialistic and they ignore mild feelings.    U.K.Atiyodi, Kandangali, Payyanur

Answer 3

Using an opinion piece is not good scholarship, and an unsigned or unverified opinion piece is beyond the pale.

USA Today does have some original reporting but most are rewrites of other news reports.

I suggest you go directly to the organizations and trade associations and magazines that service the trucking industry.

Land Line magazine has an article on the fuel cost problems and protests by truckers.

http://www.landlinemag.com/todays_news/D...

Overdrive is another source:    http://www.etrucker.com/apps/news/articl...

The Virginia Pilot has an article on truckers paying $1,400 for a load of diesel.      http://hamptonroads.com/2008/06/diesel-p...

Hope these websites help you get beyond unsigned opinion in USA Today.

Answer 4

That is not a scholarly source.  Books and journals would be considered scholarly to use as references for your paper.

If you wanted something a bit more mass media, try the Washington Post or Newsweek.  Still not quite what an essay is supposed to use as a source, but more reputable than USA Today.