1. Scholarly & Popular Articles
Objective:
Students will be able to differentiate between scholarly and popular articles.

2. Information can either be… Scholarly or Popular

3. When researching a topic, you may be asked to find both scholarly and popular articles. These articles will be found in either scholarly journals or popular magazines depending on the type of information you are looking for.

4. Scholarly usually refers to journals such as
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5. Scholarly journal articles have the following characteristics:
They are written by someone who is an expert or has done research on the subject
They are written for scholars
They do not have many pictures, but may include tables and graphs
They often include abstract and citation information
References or a bibliography are usually included at the end of the article.

6. Popular usually refers to magazines such as
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7. Popular magazine articles have the following characteristics:
Written for the general public
Written by a journalist or reporter
Contain extensive advertising, graphics, and photographs
Published daily, weekly, or monthly
Rarely include references or citations
Include current events, trends, opinions and topics of popular interest

8. Comparing Scholarly Journal & Popular Magazine Articles
Scholarly Journal Articles
Popular Magazine Articles
Written FOR scholars in a specific subject area
Written FOR general public
Written BY an expert or researcher; i.e. an artist, historian, doctor, educator
Written BY a journalist, celebrity, general person
Very little advertising; graphics specialized, if any
Many advertisements and photographs
Reading level is advanced; use specialized vocabulary
Reading level is very basic for general population
Published quarterly or bi-monthly, usually
Published weekly or monthly

9. Comparing Scholarly Journals & Popular Magazines—cont.
Scholarly Journal Articles
Popular Magazine Articles
Include references to sources, bibliographies, full citations (at end of article)
Rarely include references, bibliographies, or citations
Indexed in specialized databases such as ERIC (education articles)
Indexed in general databases such as Reader’s Guide or SIRS
Discuss specific topics in a scholarly subject
Include current events, trends, opinions and popular interest topics
Often include an abstract or brief summary of the article to inform the reader
Often include inviting title and subtitles to encourage reading the article
Approved for publication by a group of specialists in the same field of interest; this is called “peer reviewed”
Approved for publication by the magazine’s editors.

10. “Peer Reviewed”
A peer reviewed article has been reviewed for publication by a group of experts. These experts are called “peers” and are highly specialized professionals or scholars in that field of expertise.
Many articles in scholarly journals, but not all, have been peer reviewed.

11. You can access many popular and scholarly articles through the databases, accessible through the library, such as SIRS and EBSCO.

12. It is possible to limit to scholarly/peer-reviewed journals in some databases, but keep in mind that not all of the articles found using this limiter are scholarly and/or peer-reviewed.

13. Summing Up
Both scholarly and popular articles can be used in research, but be aware of the characteristics and quality of each. Generally speaking, it is possible to write a very good paper with nothing but scholarly articles and it is impossible to write a strong paper with nothing but popular literature; hence, one category is clearly better for students than the other!