True definitions of the term scholarly source vary from discipline to discipline and from professor to professor. Check with your professor to be certain how they view a particular title . These notes show the sources of information quoted by authors and can help verify the quality of their scholarship.
Notes are useful in seeing currency of information contained in the article.
Articles in scholarly journals usually have a bibliography at the end. This bibliography is a list of all sources consulted in the writing of the article. It helps to establish veracity and accurateness of information and gives the reader places to go for further information. The bibliography is one of the most important features of a scholarly source. Scholarly journals are almost always produced by a body such as the American Historical Society or the American Association of Psychologists or by a university, not by a company only for profit .