Scholarly and Popular Resources
| Any primary resource can be a scholarly resource, so the scholarly-popular distinction is only useful for secondary and tertiary resources. Most disciplines require researchers to use mainly primary and scholarly resources. Consequently, it is important to be able to differentiate between the two
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Scholarly resources provide:
- information that has been vetted by scholarly experts in the field.
- scholarly analysis, description or evaluation of events and ideas.
- primary sources of information about the views of a scholarly community.
Popular resources provide:
- primary information about culture and society.
- general information and commentary about political, economic and cultural events.
- current statistical information of general interest.
- popular opinions and beliefs.
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Popular |
Scholarly |
| Appearance |
Exciting pictures, many advertisements, glossy cover |
Dense text
Serious appearance |
| Audience |
General public |
Scholars and students
Well-educated public |
| Authors |
Journalists, professional and amateur writers |
Scholars,
professional practitioners |
| Content |
Simple discussions of news, entertainment or other popular subjects |
In depth analysis or extensive
overview of a topic |
| Review Process |
Works reviewed by publications
editors or purchased |
Works published after review by credible scholars in the discipline (peer review) |
| Scholarly Apparatus |
Few or no citations
Simple Language |
Many citations
Technical Language |
| Examples |
Newsweek, Sports Illustrated,
Gardening for Dummies |
American Journal of Sociology,
Philosophy and Literature, A History of Britain |
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