Skip to Main Content

Research Guides

WRR103: Writing Essays

What kind of information and research do you need?

Day of ...  Week of ... Week after ... Months after ... Year after & later
  • Social Media
  • TV News
  • Web-based News
  • Newspapers
  • Web-based News
  • Popular Magazines
  • Some Trade / Industry Magazines
  • Academic and scholarly journals
  • Some Trade Magazines
  • Books
  • Government Reports

Think about the different types of information these sources 

  • Immediate response
  • First person accounts
  • Commentary from experts, organizations, or general public
  • In-depth research (overview or very specific aspects)
  • Brief overview of a topic 
  • Images, Figures or Tables of Data

Scholarly vs. Popular Sources

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.

Scholarly (also called academic) sources disseminate research and academic discussion among professionals within disciplines; they are intended for university-level study and research, and are preferred when writing university-level essays.  Examples: Journals and books; see the chart below.

Adapted from the CQ University Library.