Popular and Scholarly sources

Summary

This video explains the difference between scholarly and popular sources, helping viewers understand how to distinguish between them when conducting research. Scholarly sources are written by academics, undergo a peer-review process, and contain technical language, citations, and references, while popular sources are geared towards the general public, typically written by journalists, and aim to entertain or persuade. The video demonstrates how to use library databases, such as Academic Search Complete, to filter and access both types of sources, guiding users on how to find relevant scholarly articles for their projects.

Takeaways

• 😀 Scholarly sources are written by experts, often people with PhDs, and are intended for an academic audience.
• 😀 Popular sources are written for the general public, typically by journalists, and focus on current topics and events.
• 😀 Popular sources are more conversational in style, while scholarly sources use technical and formal language.
• 😀 Popular sources aim to entertain or persuade, whereas scholarly sources aim to educate and inform based on research.
• 😀 Library databases, like Academic Search Complete, contain both popular and scholarly articles.
• 😀 To narrow results in a database, you can filter for popular sources (e.g., magazines or newspapers) or scholarly/peer-reviewed articles.
• 😀 Filtering by time, such as limiting to the last five years, can further refine your search for scholarly articles.
• 😀 Scholarly articles typically include features like author affiliations, an abstract, technical language, in-text citations, and a bibliography.
• 😀 Scholarly articles are often peer-reviewed, meaning they have gone through a process of evaluation by other experts in the field.
• 😀 The list of references at the end of a scholarly article is a key feature, offering a bibliography of the sources used in the research.

Q & A

What is the main difference between a scholarly source and a popular source?

Scholarly sources are written for and by the academic community, often involve research, have undergone peer review, and use technical language. Popular sources are written for the general public, often by journalists, and aim to entertain or persuade using a conversational tone.

Why might a professor require both scholarly and popular sources in a paper or project?

Professors require a mix of scholarly and popular sources to provide a balanced perspective, incorporating both research-based information and current, widely accessible viewpoints on a topic.

How can you limit search results to only popular sources in a database?

In a database like Academic Search Complete, you can limit search results to popular sources by selecting filters such as 'magazines' or 'newspapers,' which narrows down the results to non-scholarly articles.

What are some features that distinguish scholarly articles?

Scholarly articles often have the author's affiliations, an abstract, in-text citations, technical language, graphs or charts, and a list of references or bibliography at the end.

What is the purpose of scholarly articles?

The primary purpose of scholarly articles is to educate and inform, typically by reporting on research and contributing to academic discussions within a specific field.

Why is peer review important for scholarly sources?

Peer review ensures that the research and findings presented in scholarly articles have been evaluated for accuracy, rigor, and relevance by other experts in the field before being published.

What type of language is typically used in scholarly articles?

Scholarly articles use technical, discipline-specific language that assumes a certain level of knowledge on the part of the reader, differentiating them from the more conversational style of popular sources.

How do you filter scholarly articles in a database search?

To filter scholarly articles, you can select options like 'peer-reviewed' or 'scholarly' in the database search filters, and you may also limit the results to a specific time frame for more recent research.

What role do references play in scholarly sources?

References in scholarly sources serve to support the research presented, showing where the information was sourced and allowing readers to verify and further explore the cited works.

How does the purpose of popular sources differ from scholarly sources?

The purpose of popular sources is generally to entertain, inform, or persuade the general public, while scholarly sources aim to contribute to academic knowledge and inform specialized audiences with research findings.