Popular Vs Scholarly

Articles in scholarly journals vs. popular magazines: How to tell the difference Professors often require you to use scholarly articles for research papers, rather than

general-interest magazine articles. This chart will help you identify appropriate articles for university-level assignments.

Scholarly

Purpose: why was the article written?

Audience: who was the article written for?

Author: who wrote the article?

Common Characteristics:

Popular

Report original research Review previously published studies In-depth analysis of a specific topic

Entertainment Current awareness Summarize topics

Students, scholars, researchers, other experts

General public

Researchers, academics Always named

Journalists Sometimes named

Describe research methodologies Include footnotes, bibliographies, references Often have charts, graphs, & tables of statistics Published quarterly or annually Peer reviewed by an editorial board

Usually short articles Non-technical language Advertisements Photos Published daily, weekly, or monthly Proofread by editors

Peer reviewed articles are evaluated and accepted by a panel of recognized experts in a field before being published. When in doubt, Google the name of the journal and visit its website to find out if it’s peer-reviewed. Or ask a librarian!

Fall 2009

Megan Fitzgibbons, Liaison Librarian [email protected]