What are they? Scholarly or peer-reviewed journal articles are written by scholars or professionals who are experts in their fields. Popular sources aim to inform a wide audience about issues of interest and are much more informal in tone and scope.
Why do we care? Evidence. You want to base your writing and arguments on the best available evidence. While both types of sources contain credible information, scholarly articles (usually) provide the best evidence for the authors' claims (through high-quality citations and the peer-review process).
| Scholarly | [Criteria] | Popular |
|---|---|---|
| research projects, methodology, and theory | Contents | personalities, news, and general interest articles |
| specialized | Audience | general |
| subject experts | Authors | journalists and generalists |
| academic institutions | Affiliation | staff or freelance writers |
| highly focused, geared towards researchers and professionals | Topics | more generalized, geared towards nonprofessionals |
| peer-reviewed (usually) | Review Process | edited but not peer-reviewed |
| bibliographies/footnotes | References | no bibliographies |
| many have dull covers | Appearance | glossy, eye-catching covers |
| few or none | Advertisements | many |
| Journal of Food Science, Urban Studies, Journal of Applied Psychology, Annals of Human Genetics | Examples | People, New York Times, Psychology Today, Time |
*Types of Periodicals - Periodical is a generic term used for magazines and scholarly journals. They are materials that are published at regular intervals (monthly, quarterly, daily, etc.).