Understanding Your Sources
Imagine Your Sources: The Information Lifecycle
The Information Lifecycle models how information about an event, topic or idea might emerge and evolve over time.
Note that this timeline is just a starting point to give you a general sense -- the transmission of information is not linear, and can look very different across different disciplines!
Kinds of Sources:
Scholarly sources are written by experts on a particular subject (for example, a professor or other researcher). They also go through an extra process of review and approval by a group of other experts before they can be published. Usually, scholarly articles are written for an audience of other scholars. The chart below compares the characteristics of scholarly vs. popular (non-scholarly) sources: 
| popular | scholarly | |
|---|---|---|
| author | Usually staff writers and/or journalists | Experts on the topic -- usually researchers, scholars and/or professors |
| audience | General public (for "popular" consumption) | Other experts (and students) in the field |
| editing & review | Editor(s); generally concerned with grammar, style, etc., with some fact-checking | Other experts ("peer reviewed"); generally concerned with quality, thoroughness of research, strength of argument, etc. |
| style & design |
Reasonably brief, typically uses colloquial if not informal language. Often illustrated with graphics, sidebars and other aesthetic elements. Sometimes accompanied by ads. |
More extensive in length; tends to be more formal and uses specialized vocabulary. Illustrations and charts are used only when furthering content. |
| goal or purpose | To entertain; and/or, to share general information | To share findings, advance and argument and/or engage with other scholars |
| sources | Few or none; if sources are used, there may not be formal citations. | Typically uses many sources, cited in detailed bibliographies, footnotes and/or endnotes |
| examples | Time Magazine; Sports Illustrated; New Yorker; Boston Globe | Annual Review of Political Science; American Historical Review; Sociology of Education |
| Sample Nonscholarly Article | Sample Scholarly Article |
