Scholarly vs Popular

4,725,398

Popular

Scholarly

Author? Journalists or freelance writers.

Credentials are not provided.

Author? Researcher(s), experts, scholars.

Credentials are provided.

References? A couple here and there. No bibliography.

Google Scholar

References? Sources are cited in the article and at the end in a bibliography.

A useful tool for finding articles, but not every article is free.

Language? Easy reading with no jargon or specialized terminology.

Print Journals in the Library

Language style? Uses field terminology and jargon.

Current issues on 1st floor,

older issues on 2nd floor.

Length? Generally no more than 2 pages.

Length? Usually very long. 10 or more pages is common.

These articles are written to inform the general public but lack the depth necessary for research. They don't have a strictly defined structure but are accompanied by plenty of pictures and advertisements.

But where do you find

scholarly peer reviewed

journals and articles???

Databases

These articles are meant to be informative and in-depth for fellow researchers. They have clear organization, few pictures, and no advertisements.

A list of available databases can be accessed from the library homepage.

Review

Scholarly articles are peer-reviewed, meaning they've been read by other experts and professionals to make sure the article is worth publishing.

Popular articles are great for light reading but they're too shallow for the research you'll be asked to do.

They're accounts of original research that contribute to an ongoing conversation in your field.

But if you do your research with scholarly

articles, you'll be one step closer to getting

the grade you want on your paper.

It's not just students like yourself reading them. These are what professionals read to help with their research too.

Print and Databases

You have to do research.

Print

Your professors want you to use specific kinds of sources:

Databases

PEER-REVIEWED ARTICLES

A

SCHOLARLY JOURNALS

• Not everything is digital.
• Internet only contains a small fraction of articles available.
• Use print articles when you're looking for very recently published articles. e.g. this month's issue of a journal.
• Sometimes a journal isn't available online at all and print is useful in those cases as well!

• You can search thousands of articles at once!
• Available articles can be saved or printed.
• Easier to find related articles.
• In most cases, you don't have to be in the library to use databases to find scholarly articles!

Scholarly Journals

But how do you know what is scholarly?

• Peer-reviewed articles
• Written by experts and professionals in your field of study.
• Share research, results from experiments, and critical analysis work.

CASE CLOSED

Scholarly vs Popular

Clues for distinguishing between two different kinds of articles.