2 Chapter 2 Scholarly and Popular Sources

Scholarly sources refer to materials written by academics and industry experts that share new developments within their fields. These include journal articles, studies, reports, and more. Scholarly sources circulate the most up-to-date information in a field. Their intended audience is usually other academics, students, and industry professionals.

Popular sources may be written by anyone and are intended for the general public. They may include newspapers, magazines, blogs, and books that are written for a wide audience. Popular sources may be factually correct but they may be applied to a variety of purposes including entertainment, information, and persuasion.

One major difference between scholarly sources and popular sources is that scholarly material often undergoes a process known as peer review.

Peer Review

Peer review refers to the rigorous review process a scholarly work undergoes by a team of experts before it is published in a journal. It is a major part of the editing process. After an article undergoes peer review, it is sent back to the author to make changes. This communication between authors, peer reviewers, and editors takes time. The process of fact checking and revision results increases the credibility of the final product.

Peer reviewers are often volunteers who work in academia. Not all articles are peer reviewed, but there are ways to determine if they are. Research articles published in an academic journal are most likely peer reviewed. Articles in a newspaper or magazine, however, are not. When searching in your university library, you have the option to limit your results to peer reviewed articles.