LibGuides: Popular, Scholarly, or Trade?: Popular, Scholarly, or Trade? (2024)

FAQs

What is popular scholarly or trade? ›

Scholarly Articles: Often reviewed by other experts, or peer-reviewed for the purpose of quality control. Popular Articles: Generally edited for grammar and spelling but not peer-reviewed. Trade Articles: Content is usually reviewed by an editor but not peer-reviewed.

Clues to determining if a citation is scholarly or popular

Popular articles may be only a page or two long. Scholarly articles always have a bibliography and/or footnotes. Look for a note that indicates footnotes or references. Popular articles often don't have footnotes.

Articles in scholarly journals (also known as academic, peer-reviewed, or refereed journals) are different from articles in popular magazines for many reasons, including: the publication process, the authorship, the audience, and the purpose.

Trade sources often have advertisem*nts that are targeted to the professionals in that industry, highlighting specific tools or products that would be used in their work. Trade sources may sometimes include references or citations, but they are generally not required.

A reliable source is one that provides a thorough, well-reasoned theory, argument, discussion, etc. based on strong evidence. Scholarly, peer-reviewed articles or books -written by researchers for students and researchers. Original research, extensive bibliography.

Popular magazine articles are written by professional writers, often freelancers to entertain or inform a general audience. Some examples of popular magazines: Esquire, People, Rolling Stone, and Time. Whereas, mostly trade magazine articles are written for practitioners of a field by practitioners in that same field.

Books, articles, and websites can all be scholarly. Remember, there is sometimes a difference between scholarly and peer-reviewed articles; all peer-reviewed sources are scholarly, but not all scholarly sources are peer-reviewed. The information should be based on verifiable facts.

Popular (also called non-scholarly) sources inform and entertain the public or allow practitioners to share industry, practice, and production information Examples: Newspapers, magazines, trade journals, popular books.

Why are scholarly sources better than popular sources? ›

Scholarly sources such as journals, academic books, and dissertations, undergo a formal evaluation process before publication. This helps to ensure high-quality information and accuracy of results.

Trade sources are generally written by professionals or specialized journalists for an intended audience of professionals in a specific field. Because the publications are so specialized, they are likely to address a variety of issues, viewpoints, and perspectives related to the subject matter.

A popular source:

Is many times written by journalists or professional writers for a general audience. Uses language that is easily understood by general readers and is written for the public. Rarely gives full citations for sources, though sources may be quoted.

Among adults 25-54, CNN ranked #10 among all cable networks. Further, CNN continues to reach the most viewers in cable news among P25-54. This strong linear performance is in addition to the growing audience on CNN Max and consistently strong audience engagement across CNN's digital platforms.

No. Google Scholar is an academic search engine, but the records found in Google Scholar are scholarly sources.

"Scholarly" or "popular" are terms used to describe a source's content, purpose, audience, appearance, citations and more. Popular sources are useful for getting ideas for a topic or for background and anecdotal information.

Scholarly sources are written by academics and other experts and contribute to knowledge in a particular field by sharing new research findings, theories, analyses, insights, news, or summaries of current knowledge. Scholarly sources can be either primary or secondary research.

A scholarly journal contains in-depth articles and original research written by experts in the field. These publications use specialized vocabulary, include citations, and are often peer reviewed by other experts in the field. Trade publications contain articles written for a particular trade, industry or business.