Click on the link to access a printable PDF checklist to help you determine if an article is peer-reviewed.
Scholarly |
Popular |
|
|---|---|---|
| Written by: | Researchers -- experts such as scientists, physicians, historians. Most are employed by colleges and universities but not all. | Staff writers, journalists, bloggers. Authors of articles may not always be identified. |
| Audience: | Other experts in the same discipline. Articles are a way of sharing knowledge among peers. While college students read a lot of peer-reviewed articles, they are actually written to communicate with other other researchers! | General readers. These sources can be found on a newsstand or in a bookstore. |
| Vocabulary/Language | Serious, formal, dense. Uses specialized terminology of the profession. | No special language. Easy to read. |
| Quality control: | Peer-reviewed. This means other researchers within the same discipline have reviewed the article for quality. | Edited by publisher. |
| Purpose: | To communicate research findings and results of studies. | News. Entertainment. |
| Appearance/Design: | Little to no advertising. Charts & graphs. No illustrations or photos. Mostly text. | Glossy, attractive design. Advertising. |
| Length of article: | Long. 10 pages or more is typical. | Short. Feature articles may be longer. |
| Publication frequency: | Typically infrequent. Monthly or quarterly publication is common. | Daily, weekly, monthly. Varies by publication. |
| Cost: | Expensive. Often found in libraries & library databases. | Inexpensive, affordable. |
| Format: | Often includes descriptive title, abstract, literature reviews, methodologies, results & conclusions. Each discipline has its own standards for communicating research but all articles include a list of references. All research is based on prior research. | No special format. Typically does not list references although there are some exceptions. |
| Examples: |
New England Journal of Medicine. Journal of Health, Population & Nutrition. Nicotine & Tobacco Research. |
The New York Times The Economist Prevention Magazine Psychology Today People Magazine National Enquirer |
From Scholarly and Popular Sources [Video], by the Carnegie-Vincent Library, 2013, YouTube (https://youtu.be/tN8S4CbzGXU).