Popular Vs Scholarly Detective - Students need to examine two articles to determine which is popular and which is scholarly. They must be prepared to defend their answers.
Different types of sources have different uses and include different perspectives. You need to know what type of source you are looking at to determine the kind of evidence that will be included in the source.
Video from Utah State University Libraries.
Source Type |
Timing |
Purpose |
Characteristics |
Authors |
Where to Find |
| Social Media |
Seconds, Minutes |
Immediacy. Breaks the story. | Unedited. Information may be incomplete, false, or biased | Anyone | Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok |
| Newspapers | Hours, Day | Excellent for current information, useful for local information. Useful for historical research. | Current events. Does not use technical language. | Professional Journalists | Databases: Newspaper Source, U.S. Major Dailies, Nexis Uni, |
| Magazines |
Days, Weeks |
An overview of your topic, as well as information on popular culture and current events. | Colorful, entertaining. Contain ads. may be found on news stands. Usually cover current topics. | Professional Journalists |
Databases: |
| Conference Proceedings |
Weeks, Months |
Research in progress. Scholarly articles written by the same authors may be published at a later date. | Academic or field-specific terminology used. Presents new research. | Specialists in the Field, Scholars | Google Scholar, Professional Association's Websites |
| Scholarly Journal Articles |
Months, Year/s |
Presentation of the latest research in a field. Typically this includes a deep dive into a particular aspect of a topic. | Written in technical discipline-specific. Is rarely shorter than 10 pages. Includes data, tables, charts, a bibliography, and when presenting research, an introduction, methods section, results, discussion, and conclusions. | Specialists in the Field, Scholars | Start with Academic Search Complete, Explore other databases by subject |
| Books | Year/s | Overview of topic, in-depth coverage of the topic. Check the book's index and table of contents to locate information relevant to your topic. | Lengthy; may be an in-depth fully developed argument, or may be an edited collection of authored articles. May be published by a general publisher (HarperCollins) or by an academic press (in which case they would be called a monograph). | Specialists, Journalists, Scholars | From OWU and the Ohio Five in Consort, From across Ohio in OhioLINK, Nationwide through Interlibrary loan |
| Encyclopedias or Reference Sources | Years | Topic ideas, an overview of the topic, background information, quick facts. Check their bibliographies to identify additional core sources of information. | Articles are often compilations from many contributors. Authoritative and concise information sources. They provide comprehensive background information on a topic. | Specialists, Scholars | Wikipedia, Databases: Credo, Gale Ebooks, Oxford Research Encylcopedias |
| Government Documents | Year/s | Statistics, an overview of the topic, quick facts, in-depth analysis, and research reports. | Government documents may be found in many forms: they are books, pamphlets, or other materials published by a federal, state, or local government agency. | Government Agency Staff, Researchers | Govinfo.gov, Congressional Publications |
| Webpages |
Seconds, Minutes, Months, Years |
Topic ideas, an overview of topic, opinions, information from organizations and commercial businesses. | Wide variety of source types. Offers many perspectives. Evaluate sources carefully as many are not fact-checked. | Anyone |
Inspired by Lebanon Vally College's FYE 112 Guide.