What qualifies as "scholarly" or "popular"?
It may be challenging or confusing to distinguish between scholarly and popular sources, especially online where many websites and databases look the same. Both sources can be useful, but it's important to understand what exactly you're reading.
This guide will help you understand the important differences between these categories. If you still have questions, librarians are here to help.
Scholarly Sources
Scholarly sources are written by qualified experts in a field of study, where their work is vetted for accuracy, edited, and approved by other experts in that field. The intended audience for these books and articles are other scholars, students, and those seeking expert research. These sources include
These books and articles always cite other work in the form of a reference list, bibliography, or works cited list, since readers may want to consult those sources.
Popular Sources
Popular sources are written for the general public and intended as a means of quickly disseminating information such as the news and current events, entertainment, opinion pieces, or products to sell. These sources include
They are typically written by journalists or authors for hire and usually don't cite references or include in-depth research (nor are they intended to).
