NUTR 101

Distinguish Between Popular and Scholarly Information

What is not considered scholarly?

Popular Magazines or Newspapers such as the ones shown in the image below CAN be good sources for research projects. However, they are NOT considered scholarly journals!

(click on image to enlarge)

This image shows the covers of some popular publications that are NOT scholarly: Time Magazine, Entertainment Weekly, Psychology Today, Los Angeles Times, Christianity Today, Utne Reader

Important information about popular sources
  • Popular magazines and journals are written for the general public, not for an academic audience
  • Articles are shorter and use vocabulary appropriate for the general public
  • Illustrations are flashy and eye-catching
  • Advertisements are common
  • Authors are usually paid journalists and articles are not reviewed or approved by subject experts

As shown in the image below...

  • Background information is brief
  • Popular or news stories are also brief, each point is touched on with little depth
  • Citations are absent or incomplete, as shown in this example article.

(click to enlarge image)
this image is of a short news article, with arrows and boxes of info showing that the background info offered is short, that there are just popular or new stories talked about in little depth, and few or no citations in the article.

Book reviews and opinion editorials are NOT scholarly

The image below shows a book review and outlines important aspects or parts that can help you evaluate the source

  1. The title of the book being reviewed in this article is called "Tell This Silence: Asian American Women Writers and the Politics of Speech" and it is written by Patti Duncan. The name, ISBN, cost of the book, and other info to help you find the book is listed before the start of the article's text. 
  2. The author is listed as Deborah M. Mix - she wrote the review (like an opinion piece) about the book "Tell This Silence: Asian American Women Writers and the Politics of Speech"
  3. She got the review published in the scholarly journal called "Modern Fiction Studies"
  4. Even though Deborah's article is published in a scholarly journal the article itself is not considered a scholarly journal article, since it is simply a review based on someone's opinion. It differs greatly from the research-centered articles that are also housed in the journal.

(Click on image to enlarge)

(Description of the linked article Tell this Silence: Asian American Women Writers and the Politics of Speech) 1.	Tell this Silence is the name of a published book written by Patti Duncan 2.	Deborah M. Mix wrote a review (like an opinion piece) about this book 3.	She got that review published in the scholarly journal Modern Fiction Studies. 4.	Even though Deborah’s review article is published in a scholarly journal…the article itself is NOT considered a scholarly journal, since it is simply a review based on someone’s opinion


Below, you can click on the link to access the full article where you can see the original PDF of the article as it appeared in print inside the journal.

How can you tell the difference
between different types of perio
dicals? 

 
       
  magazine image magazine image magazine image  

 

Popular magazines

Trade, industry and professional publications

Scholarly
(or "academic"
or "peer-reviewed") journals

 

AUTHOR

Usually a staff writer or journalist. Sometimes the author's name is not provided.

Writers with subject knowledge or practitioners and professionals.

Primarily experts, often university researchers, whose credentials are usually included.

 

AUDIENCE

Written for the "average" person who doesn't have in-depth knowledge of a topic.

Multiple levels of readers: general public to practitioners and professionals.

Aimed at professionals, researchers, scholars, or others with more in-depth knowledge of the topic.

 

CONTENT

Entertainment, opinion, current topics, quick facts.

Trends, forecasts, news and events in the field; products, book reviews, employment, biography.

Research, analysis, scholarship. Often includes abstract, research methods, conclusion, bibliography.

 

LENGTH

Shorter articles providing broad overviews of topics.

Short newsy items to longer, in-depth articles.

Longer articles providing in-depth analysis of topics.

 

APPEARANCE

Glossy, color pictures, advertisements.

Ads related to the field or profession.  Charts, tables, illustrations.

Dense text, usually with graphs and charts, fewer specialized, advertisements.

 

CREDIBILITY

Articles are generally evaluated by staff editors rather than experts in the field.

Articles reviewed by editors from professional associations or commercial/trade organizations.

Articles reviewed by a "jury" of experts--"peer-reviewed" or "refereed"—before publication.

 

EXAMPLES

People, Essence, Hispanic, Good Housekeeping, Out, Time, Vogue, Sports Illustrated

RN, Library Journal,  Professional Builder, Contractor Magazine, Restaurant Hospitality

Journal of American History, Nature, Journal of Business, Lancet, Bioscience

 

Adapted from ACC Library Services Libguides.

 

 

Evidence that a book is scholarly:
 
A scholarly book will: 
  • be written by an expert or experts in the field (PH.D., M.D., etc preferred)
  • usually present new research or analysis of previous research
  • often be printed by a University Press
  • not be written for popular audiences
  • include extensive references to other scholarly work

Other Signs to Spot a Scholarly Book:

  • Read the record for the author and publisher. Are the credentials academic (an university press, a professor as an author)?
  • Are the language and subject matter of an academic nature?
  • Are there In-text citations?
  • Is there a thorough and exhaustive (long) reference list? 
Urban Cities

THE AUTHOR BIO ESTABLISHES THE AUTHOR'S EXPERTISE IN HER FIELD. SHE HAS A PhD, AND HAS RESEARCHED, WORKED AND WRITTEN IN HER FIELD SINCE 1990.

 

NOTE THE PRESENCE OF IN-TEXT CITATIONS. ALL CLAIMS ARE THOROUGHLY SOURCED AND BACKED UP.

NOTE TOO THE ACADEMIC TONE AND LANUGAGE OF THE TEXT.

THE WORK IS THOROUGHLY REFERENCED. THIS IS PAGE 1 OF 15.

 

Important information about scholarly journals

The parts of the articles, as well as images showing what these parts may look like, are outlined below.
  1. Scholarly journals are often referred to as Academic Journals, Peer-Reviewed Journals, and Research Journals
  2. Purpose: Scholarly journals are educational and serve to share information and original research between scholars in particular academic disciplines

(click on image to enlarge)this is an image of 4 covers of journal articles, showing how specific their contents are and how complex their titles. Text included in the image are listed in item 1 and 2

  1. Subject Matter: Articles contain very specific and specialized information. Usually articles are reports of research on narrow and subtle aspects of a particular field of study
  2. Language: Language is appropriate for scholarly dialog; articles often contain context terminology, jargon, or mathematical formulas used in a particular field of study

 (click on image to enlarge)this image is a screenshot of a journal article, pointing out the complex language in the article and includes the text in points 3 and 4

  1. Format: Articles have abstracts that summarize the content of the article. Articles are often long and complex, typically with standardized sections such as Introduction, Literature Review,  Methods, Results, Conclusion, and Discussion 
  2. Graphics: Journals are mostly text-based and often look "plain" with few photos or graphics. Graphics and charts often illustrate research results or statistics

​(click on image to enlarge)this image shows a screenshot of the results section and includes the text in points 5 and 6

  1. Bibliography: All sources are cited in a bibliography
  2. Authors: Authors are academic researchers or specialists in their field whose articles have passed scrutiny and review by peers/fellow specialists in their field; author affiliations (title, degree, academic position held) are usually mentioned in the article

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This is a screenshot of a journal article pointing out the citations and author section and includes the text from points 7 and 8

  1. Publishers: Journals are usually published by educational institutions, professional organizations, or non-profits

The Citation information: Authors, Article title, Journal information and Abstract:


In-Text Citations:


The Methodology or Experiment:


The Results and Discussion:

 


Data - Tables and Charts:


The References:

 

Example of a Popular Nutrition Article:

Popular article: Meet the vegetarians

Example of a Scholarly Nutrition Article:

image of scholarly nutrition article: Developing a Food Exchange System for Meal Planning in Vegan Children and Adolescents

Compare: Popular Magazine article vs Scholarly article