Characteristics of Scholarly and Popular Sources
Scholarly Sources |
Popular Sources  |
| Author: Experts, researchers |
Author: Reporters, journalists, professionals, company employees, or anyone |
| Written for: Other experts and researchers |
Written for: General public |
| Publisher: University, academic press, sometimes government |
Publisher: Newspaper, magazine,non-academic publisher or website |
| Vocabulary: Advanced, technical, scholarly |
Vocabulary: General language |
| Purpose: To report research findings, build on the academic literature |
Purpose: To inform, entertain, convince, market, or sell |
|
Editing:
Reviewed by other experts (peer review) |
Editing: Basic editing |
| References: Yes; look for footnotes or a list of sources at the end of the article. |
References: Not usually, though studies or other sources may be mentioned |
For your assignment...
Once you have found your two articles (one that's more popular, one that's more scholarly), you will compare characteristics of those two articles:
| CHARACTERISTICS (just pick 3 for this assignment) |
DESCRIPTION |
|
Author credentials |
What are the qualifications of the authors to write these articles? What are their educational credentials and affiliations? What experience do they have writing about this topic? |
|
Audience |
Who is the intended audience? Consider language/jargon, concepts. |
|
References |
Describe any references or works cited, including the amount of references, type of references, where in the article the references are provided. |
|
Publisher |
Identify the publisher and any relevant information about the publisher. |
|
Purpose |
Why was the article written? |
|
Editing |
Is it peer reviewed? Or basic editing? How do you know? |
Characteristics of Scholarly & Popular Sources - More Details
To determine how scholarly a source is, look at these characteristics (to learn more about each, click on the square icons):
|
Author credentials can be: Most scholarly - expert with advanced degree (e.g., Ph.D., M.D., J.D.) in relevant subject Mid-level - journalist, some academic credentials (e.g., B.A., B.S., M.A.) in relevant subject Least scholarly - no credentials, no academic degree or experience in the subject |
The target audience can be: Most scholarly - other experts, professionals, or scholars in that subject area Mid-level - general public Least scholarly - general public, elementary, middle school students |
References can be: Most scholarly - extensive list of scholarly sources Mid-level - list of credible/reliable sources; sources mentioned in the text Low-level - no references |
The publisher can be: Most scholarly - a university, professional, or academic press; for example: Oxford University Press, American Psychological Association, Elsevier Mid-level - reputable book publisher, magazine, or newspaper Least scholarly - self-published/vanity press Learn about publishers by visiting their websites and looking in the "About" section. |
Editing and review can be: Most Scholarly - the author's peers (experts in a subject area) critically evaluate all aspects of the work; this is called Peer Review. It can also be called Refereed. Mid-level - Substantive editing, for content, structure Low-level - proofreading or copy editing for grammar, spelling, and capitalization Least Scholarly - no editing or review |
The purpose can be: Most scholarly - to inform or educate about a specific topic or to describe a research study; should be objective (it may support a particular side, but with documentation and fair consideration of the other side) Mid-level - to inform or educate about a topic, event, or issue; might be biased Least scholarly - to entertain, to sell you something; might be biased |
All images are in the public domain or under Creative Commons licenses.
Scholarly Scale
How Scholarly?
Sources of information can range from being not scholarly, to very scholarly, to somewhere in the middle. Each source will go somewhere on this scale. Use the characteristics described above to determine where a source falls on the scale.
| 0 |---------------------------------------------------5--------------------------------------------------| 10 | ||
| Least Scholarly e.g., entertainment, childrens' books |
Mid-Level Sources that are not as scholarly, but still credible, include popular periodicals such as magazines and newspapers. |
Most Scholarly Scholarly sources typically include academic journal articles. |