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SOCD20 / GASD20: Advanced Seminar: Social Change and Gender Relations in Chinese Societies

Winter 2022

Scholarly vs. Popular Sources

Not sure if the item you found is a scholarly source? Use the table below for descriptions and examples of scholarly and non-scholarly sources.

	Description	Example
Scholarly Source (Academic)	Written by a scholar or researcher in the field Disseminates research and academic discussion among scholars and researchers within the discipline Intended for university-level study and research Formal presentation of scholarly work in a standard style Language is formal and technical References are always cited	Academic books Journals and journal articles Conference publications
Popular Source (Non-Scholarly)	Written by a journalist or feature writer Informs or entertains the general public Allows practitioners to share industry, practice, and production information Often presented in story format, with anecdotes from other people Language is casual, with few technical terms Text may contain vague mentions to studies or research, but may not have detailed references	Newspapers Magazines Trade journals Popular books

Evaluating Sources

Use the seven criteria below to evaluate whether a source is scholarly or non-scholarly.

	Scholarly (Academic) Source	Non-Scholarly (Popular) Source
Purpose	To share with other scholars the results of primary research & experiments.	To entertain or inform in a broad, general sense.
Author	A respected scholar or researcher in the field; an expert in the topic; names are always noted.	A journalist or feature writer; names are not always noted.
Publisher	A university press; a professional association or known (independent) scholarly publisher.	A commercial publisher; self-published.
Audience	Scholars or researchers in the field or those interested in the topic at a research level; university students.	General public.
Content	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.	Often presented in story format, with anecdotes from other people.
Style	Language is formal and technical; usually contains discipline-specific jargon.	Language is casual (high school reading level or lower). Few, if any, technical terms are used (and if they are, they are usually defined.)
References	Standard element; reference are always cited and expected; can also be called "works cited," or "bibliographies;" text often contains footnotes.	Very uncommon; text may contain vague referrals to "a study published at..." or "researchers found that..." with no other details about that information.

Adapted from the Valparaiso University Library.