Scholarly Vs. Popular Articles
Instructors often require students to use only scholarly, or "peer-reviewed"
information in their papers. Look at the chart below to understand the differences.
You can also view this 5 minute presentation created by
librarian Karen Munro
at the University of California-Berkeley:
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/doemoff/tutorials/scholarlycontentonline.html
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Scholarly
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Popular
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Written by experts in the field,
and author's credentials are given
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Written by journalists or others who are not experts; credentials are usually not given |
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Written for an academic audience (students,
other scholars and researchers who
are knowledgeable about the subject and can
understand complex language and jargon).
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Written for the general public, generally at about the 8th grade reading level. |
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Contains full citations for any sources quoted or ideas used. This contributes to the trustworthiness of the article, because the reader can check these sources and verify their content and authenticity.
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Usually do not contain citations of sources or have bibliographies. The reader must consult additional sources to determine the accuracy of the information provided. |
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Usually based on original research or
new applications of others' research.
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Not a report of scholarly research; it could be about any topic or event.
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Does not contain photos, illustrations (other than charts or graphs) or advertisements.
Printed on plain paper.
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Often contains many photos, illustrations and advertisements. Often printed on
glossy paper or in newspapers.
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Information Sources that are NOT Scholarly:
Blogs
Opinions/editorials/commentary
Popular Magazines such as Time, Newsweek, Psychology Today, US News & World Report, etc. whether online or in print.
Newspapers, whether online or in print
Most websites are not scholarly, unless they are the online versions of Academic Journals (use the criteria given in the video above, and/or on the Evaluating Websites page.)
Not all books are scholarly. Check if they are reporting research by looking at the bibliography. Are the sources listed scholarly? If there is no bibliography or footnotes, the information is not scholarly.
Any other sources which are not discussing research results, do not give the credentials of the author, (or the author's credentials are not academic), do not cite their sources, or cite only non-scholarly sources. If in doubt, consult your professor or a librarian.
Where to Find Scholarly Articles
The library's databases and print journals are the best sources for scholarly articles. The databases provided by the library are subscription collections, and contain information that is not usually available for free on the Web. Databases contain information from popular magazines, newspapers, trade publications, and scholarly journals. Most sort the information into these categories for you, or allow you to limit your search to scholarly or "peer-reviewed" articles. Scholarly journal articles have been judged by experts in the field to contain high quality information. Articles from popular magazines and newspapers should be checked for accuracy by comparing them with other, more expert sources.
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