Scholarly/Popular/Trade - What's the difference? - Biology - Research Guides at Montclair State University

What's the Difference?

Still having trouble telling the differences between popular and scholarly articles? Hopefully the following will help:

Your professors will often ask you to use scholarly sources for your assignments. A peer-reviewed article is one example of a scholarly source.

A table summarizing the attributes of popular, scholarly and professional sources.
	POPULAR & NEWS	SCHOLARLY	PROFESSIONAL
Why?	Information and entertainment	Communicate research and scholarship	Professional information (industry/career specific).
Who for?	General public	Researchers, professors, students	Professionals in the field
Author	Journalists, freelancers.	Researchers, professors	Practitioners on the job (e.g. teachers, counselors)
Recognize by...	* Articles are pretty easy to read * Absence of references * Advertisements * Usually shorter, a few pages	* Articles are difficult to read * Begin with abstract * Lots of references * Methodology sometimes described * Usually longer, 7+ pages	* Practitioners views * Industry information * Discuss trends and issues * Advertisements
Where will I find it?	Google, Library Databases	Google Scholar, Library Databases	Google, Library Databases
Sample Titles	New York Times Time Magazine	Journal of Sociology Educational Researcher	Grocery Headquarters Computer Fraud and Security

Scholarly, Popular and Trade Publications Slideshow
To access this presentation in HTML view, use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + Alt + Shift + p (Windows or Chrome OS) or ⌘ + Option + Shift + p (Mac).