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MIST/ENGR 175-01 (Yeo/Byun, Spring 2025)

Scholarly vs Popular Chart

View this chart from the UC Merced Library to determine if an article is scholarly or popular.

Scholarly, Trade, & Popular Articles (Video Tutorial)

Watch this brief (4:53) video from University of West Florida, John C. Pace Library, to learn about similarities and differences between types of sources.

The video begins by describing three categories of articles—scholarly, trade, and popular—and lists their respective audiences, authors, purposes, writing styles, inclusion or lack of references, and other notable features. It also goes over a little of the publication cycle. 

Questions for Reflection

  1. What kinds of articles are there?
  2. What is a scholarly article?
  3. What is a trade article?
  4. What is a popular article?
  5. What kind of article takes the shortest amount of time to publish? The longest?

Types of Sources - Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary (Video Tutorial)

Check out this short video (2:23) from Suffolk County Community College Library to understand how primary, secondary, and tertiary sources vary by discipline. Beyond definitions of source types, this video provides useful examples of what would be primary, secondary and tertiary sources for research questions in different disciplines.