Popular vs Scholarly resources

Open Popular and Scholarly Sources in another browser window to work through this tutorial side by side.

There are two types of resources a student might encounter while doing research:

  • Scholarly sources
  • Popular sources

Scholarly sources

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Scholarly or peer-reviewed refers to the process of verifying accuracy, authority, and overall credibility of the article before it is published. The content has been reviewed by academic peers in the same field before it has been published.

Common components of scholarly articles include:

  • author credentials
  • literature review
  • methodology (if a research article)
  • findings (if a research article)
  • conclusions 
  • bibliographic sources cited

Scholarly sources

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Peer reviewed means any academic has reviewed the article before it was published

Popular sources

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Popular resources are intended for a general audience. They are written to inform, persuade, or entertain. While they may contain research information, they do not contain the level of citations, bibliographic information, or other criteria that scholarly works do. 

Types of popular resources:

  • Newspapers
  • Magazines
  • Websites
  • Social Media

 

Popular sources

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Twitter would be an example of 

 

Popular vs Scholarly sources: The Information Cycle

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So how do you determine if you need popular or scholarly resources? Watch this short video from California State's John M. Pfau Library to show how both fit in to the information cycle. 

 

Popular vs Scholarly sources: The Information Cycle

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Scholarly resources are immediately available after an event.

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