Think about what kind of information you're looking for. Where are you likely to find that information? Who knows about your topic? Whose expertise do you trust? You might find information in a variety of sources. Some sources will be more scholarly and aimed at an academic audience, while others will be more general and aimed at non-experts. All of these types of sources have different purposes and uses and can provide different insight for your research.
Scholarly and popular sources are two types of sources you may find and use in your research. They have different characteristics and purposes that will be reviewed in this section.
A scholarly or peer-reviewed source has been written by an expert in the subject (ex., a professor or other researcher), and has been reviewed and approved by a group of other experts (their peers). It is written for an academic audience and will usually present original research in a specific field. The NC State Libraries provide an interactive diagram of a scholarly article that you can view to see the different components. An example of a scholarly source is a research study published in an academic journal.
A popular source is written for a wider, more general audience, and may provide a more broad overview of a topic. The author is not necessarily an expert in the specific subject and is usually a general journalist or freelance writer. These articles do not go through peer review and may be edited by a single editor or editorial board. An example of a popular source is an article in a magazine.
The chart below goes into more detail about how to distinguish between these two types of sources.
| Popular Sources | Scholarly Sources | |
|---|---|---|
| Author/Audience | Written by journalists or freelance writers for a general audience. | Written by scholars or experts in the field for other scholars (including students) and experts. |
| Writing Style | Language is more general and simple, may explain key concepts and terms, does not assume the reader already has knowledge about the subject. | Language is more technical and complex, assumes the audience is familiar with key concepts and terms in the field. |
| Review/Editing Process | Reviewed by general editors. | Reviewed by experts or peer-reviewed. |
| Subject Matter | Often discuss current events and/or entertaining topics. One issue might cover many subject areas. | Report original research in a specific field of study. |
| Illustrations | Often have colorful photographs. | Often have charts and graphs showing data from a study. |
| Advertising | Have advertising, including for products and services that are unrelated to the article topic or field. | Has little or no advertising. Ads are typically for related journals, books, and conferences in the scholarly field. |
| Citations | Do not include citations or include few citations. Citations may be links to external sources and not in a formal citation style. |
Have both in-text citations and a works cited list, reference list, or bibliography at the end of the article. |
| Examples | Time Magazine, The New York Times, Business Weekly, Psychology Today | New England Journal of Medicine, Nature Geoscience, Quarterly Journal of Economics, Annual Review of Psychology |
When conducting research, you may be asked to find peer reviewed sources. Peer review is a process used by many academic journals to make sure they publish high quality research that has been vetted by experts. In peer review, researchers submit their manuscript to an academic journal for publishing. The journal editor then sends that article to a group of reviewers who are experts in the field. Those reviewers read the draft and look critically at things like the research methods, the structure of the manuscript, the quality of the research, and whether it is a good fit for the journal. Reviewers send feedback to the original researchers who can then edit the draft based on that feedback. At the end of this process, the reviewers recommend to the journal editor if the article should be published or rejected and the journal editor makes a decision based on the reviewers' feedback.
Peer review is not necessarily going to confirm that an article or study is factual or correct. Reviewers aren't reviewing for accuracy, but are checking that the methodology is sound and the conclusions are logical based on the information the author(s) provided. Journals use this process as a sort of quality control for what they publish - by having multiple experts look at a manuscript, they can filter out research that doesn't meet a journal's standards.