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Distinguishing Between Popular and Scholarly Resources
In the research process, it is critical to understand and recognize the difference between scholarly information sources and "popular" information sources. Research that is supported solely by "popular" information sources may lack the level of inquiry expected by your professor.
Some examples of popular periodicals are Newsweek, Psychology Today, Harpers, The Nation, or Utne Reader. These publications are probably familiar to you. It is less likely that you will be familiar with the titles of various scholarly publications unless you've already done some advanced research in that field. For example, among the many scholarly journals found in the Burling Library are The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences, The Annals of Statistics, or The Quarterly Review of Biology.
Here are some examples:
Popular |
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Scholarly |
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Scholarly |
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It is important to keep in mind that there is a broad range of content quality among various popular publications. Clearly, The National Enquirer is a popular periodical. Likewise, The New York Times is considered popular, not scholarly, despite its reputation as a well-respected, award-winning newspaper. The distinction between popular and scholarly lies not so much in the accuracy of the writing or reporting, but more in the the authorship and the process by which articles or stories are chosen for publication.
The chart below addresses some of the critical differences between popular and scholarly research:
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Popular |
Scholarly |
Content |
General, Informative:
News and general interest stories. |
Narrow, Subject-specific:
Academic or scholarly research, criticism, or theory. |
Audience |
General audience. |
Scholars, researchers, professors. |
Author |
Journalist or magazine staff-writer. Author name may not be listed. |
Experts in the field: scholars, researchers, noted specialists. Author's credentials are generally provided. |
Peer-Reviewed? |
NO |
YES!
(see What Is Peer Review? below)
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Length |
Short-medium:
Usually no longer than 5 pages. |
Medium-very long: Almost always longer than 5 pages. It is not uncommon for articles to be 20+ pages. |
Visual Style |
Colorful, slick, glossy. |
Frequently plain (matte) cover and paper with limited color. Traditional. |
Images |
Many images and photographs. Usually glossy. |
Fewer images. Usually tables, graphs, diagrams |
Advertisements? |
Many ads for a variety of goods. |
Very limited, if any. Tend to be for other scholarly publications or academic programs/services. |
Availability |
Widely available at bookstores, newsstands, public & academic libraries. |
Availability is limited. Found almost exclusively in academic libraries & research institutions. |
Frequency of Publication |
More frequent: Daily, weekly, or sometimes monthly. |
Less frequent: Monthly, quarterly, or semi-annually. |
What is "Peer Review"?
Peer Review is the process by which an article is evaluated by a group of specialists in its given field prior to being "accepted" for publication. These specialists, usually respected experts in their fields, act as the journal's editorial board. This review process strives to ensure that published articles meet a standard of accuracy, originality, and scholarly integrity. The scholarly journals mentioned above (Annals of Statisitics or The Quarterly Review of Biology) are peer-reviewed. Popular journals, such as Newsweek or Utne Reader, are not peer-reviewed.
Typically, if your professor refers to "scholarly" or "academic" journals, he or she is referring to journals that are peer-reviewed.
Note: The term peer review is also known as refereed.
These terms may be used interchangably.
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Even if you are familiar with the guidelines in the chart above, differentiating between popular and scholarly sources can still be quite difficult. Fortunately, many indexes and databases include a field in which the journal's scholarly or peer-review status is defined.
For example, look at the following article citation, taken directly from the Humanities Abstracts database. You'll see that The Journal of the Early Republic is clearly classified as peer-reviewed.
Or, you may look up an individual journal title in Ulrich's Periodicals Directory, which is available online. Simply go to the Databases & Indexes link on the Burling Library homepage, then click on Reference, News & General. Here, you will see an alphabetical listing of databases and indexes. Scroll down to "Ulrich's International Periodical Index" and select the corresponding link.
Once in Ulrich's, you may search for individual journals by title. When the results of your search appear, be sure to click on the appropriate journal title (hyperlinked in red) to view the full journal description. Look under the Document Type and Refereed fields to find out how the journal has been classified. The image below shows Ulrich's entry for The American Journal of Theology & Philosophy.
Searching For Scholarly Articles Using Electronic Databases
A number of the databases available through the Grinnell College Libraries allow you to limit your searches strictly to peer-reviewed or scholarly articles. If you already know at the outset of your search that you need peer-reviewed or scholarly sources, you can set up your search to omit any findings from popular sources.
For example, in the database Academic Search Premier, simply check off the "Peer Reviewed" box before entering a search.
Some of the other databases which include this feature are:
Business Source Elite
GenderWatch
PAIS International
Please remember that the librarians at Burling Library and Kistle Science Library are happy to assist you in locating and identifying appropriate journal articles.
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