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Non-Scholarly/Popular Source |
Academic/Scholarly Source |
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Author |
A journalist or feature writer; names are not always noted. |
A respected scholar or researcher in the field; an expert in the topic; names and affiliations are always noted. |
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Audience |
General public |
Scholars or researchers in the field or those interested in the topic at a research level; university students. |
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Purpose |
To entertain or inform in a broad, general sense. |
To share with other scholars the results of primary research & experiments. |
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Style |
Articles (usually brief) are written in simple language—no specialized knowledge is needed in order to read an article. Articles are glossy and attention-grabbing, using many adjectives, and generally contain (unrelated) photos and great quantities of advertisements. |
Language is formal, analytical, and academic; usually contains discipline-specific jargons. |
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Content |
Often presented in story format, with anecdotes from other people. Information often second or third-hand, and the originality of the source is often obscure. |
Articles (are supposed to) present original research studies. Formal presentation of scholarly work in a standard style; often an abstract at the beginning of the article. Articles may have section headings, such as literature review, methodology, results, discussion/further study. |
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References |
Very uncommon; text may contain vague referrals to "a study published at..." or "researchers found that..." with no other details about that information. |
Standard element; references are always cited and expected; can also be called "works cited," or "bibliographies;" text often contains footnotes. |
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Publisher |
A commercial publisher; self-published. |
A university press; a professional association or known (independent) scholarly publisher. |
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Review Process |
Articles are reviewed by the editorial staff, including copyediting, proofreading, etc. A fact-checking and verification by another expert are rarely available. |
Scholarly articles go through a peer review (referee) process where other scholars who are experts in the field evaluate the content of the article; copyediting and proofreading are provided after the editorial/peer-review process. |
NOTES:
— Writing both non-scholarly and scholarly pieces of writing requires a set of skills, knowledge and experience. However, a review process in academia (e.g., Duke University Press ➤ ➤ Current Authors - Review Process) makes a significant difference in the quality of the contents.
— Reports brought by correspondents or on-the-scene reporters are often valuable and bring different values and viewpoints to the information landscape.
Source: Adapted from the Valparaiso University Library
When you are collecting and choosing sources, you make a conscious decision about which information source is the best and what type of information you should use. Your decision depends on the purpose of your use.
STUDENT: When should I use academic encyclopedias?
LIBRARIAN: If you have no idea of where to start, you need background information on a topic. Start with an academic encyclopedia, a handbook, or a course reading. (See Encyclopedias and Handbooks). Each entry of encyclopedias and handbooks is succinct and general or sometimes very specific. This helps you decide what you would like to focus on.
Encyclopedias and handbooks are useful. Also check bibliographies, recommended readings, and/or further readings in encyclopedias and handbooks that the author recommends to the readers.
STUDENT: I like short articles! Can I just use encyclopedias? Why do I have to use books?
LIBRARIAN: Encyclopedias and handbooks do not usually give you the context and a bigger picture of a narrower topic even though the format is very similar to books. Encyclopedias and handbooks are to give you concise information, not in-depth. The author of an encyclopedia may not specialize in all the areas in his/her encyclopedia.
If each chapter of handbooks is written by an expert and includes "up-to-date surveys of original research in a particular subject area," you might be able to treat it as a chapter in an edited book. (See Oxford Handbooks). When experts write a chapter or an entry for handbooks, they are aware that students could be the readers of handbooks.
If you want to have a comprehensive and in-depth understanding of a topic with research data, look for a book. The author of an academic/scholarly book specializes in the topic. Because the length of the book is longer than 300 pages, the author(s) can explain topics in detail. You may not find everything relevant, but it is helpful because you do not need to look for multiple sources because one book can give you substantial information. I actually like readings books.
STUDENT: Reading books is daunting because they are too long. Can I just use journal articles?
LIBRARIAN: If you are looking for a specific research output on a topic, find peer-reviewed articles from academic journals. However, journal articles may have more jargon than books because the authors write the papers to those who are also experts in an area. You may need more time to understand the information that is packed within limited pages. You would probably need a book to have a comprehensive view and a gradual process to develop your knowledge. When books may not be available in a certain topic, journal articles are helpful, too. Some authors publish journal articles first before they write books on the same topic.
Book chapters in an edited book serve like journal articles. Different from journals, edited books are not published periodically.
STUDENT: Why can't I find a topic that I am looking for?
LIBRARIAN: Normally, your professor does not give you questions whose answers that you can easily find in published works. The Library can help you find relevant and helpful information. But ultimately, it is you, not AI or your parents, who synthesize all the information that you have found. You may not be able to find the answer that you are looking for. The process of synthesizing information gives you valuable skills, such as analytical and critical thinking skills.
STUDENT: Honestly, I haven't seen print versions of books, journal articles, and encyclopedias. Can I see them if I visit the library?
LIBRARIAN: Sure! Not everything is available in both the formats. But we can show you something so that you can easily learn how the information is organized. Come and visit the Reference and Research Desk!
0:00 – How to find Ulrichsweb, using LibrarySearch
0:51 -- Remember to type in the JOURNAL title, not the article title
1:58 -- Make sure your article is a research article, since peer reviewed journals have other content
3:21 -- You can access the journal through Ulrichsweb
The following video was created by Cambridge University Press. They show the importance of the peer-review process: