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Writing 10-05: Reading & Composition (Block, Fall 2024)

Politics & Bias

Which source would you choose for a paper about politics and bias?
A blog post about how a person's childhood affects their adult worldview: 11 votes (23.91%)
A newspaper article about what residents in a neighborhood think about a local issue: 5 votes (10.87%)
A long-form investigative journalism write-up in a magazine about money and politics: 15 votes (32.61%)
A peer reviewed journal article about a survey related to attitudes about voting: 15 votes (32.61%)
Total Votes: 46

Scholarly vs. Popular Periodicals

Vanderbilt University, Peabody Library, 3:12

This video's learning outcomes include:

  • recognizing physical characteristics of scholarly articles
  • recognizing categories of periodicals from popular, to scholarly, to trade

Scholarly vs. Non-Scholarly

graphic of scholarly and non-scholarly sources

from video "Scholarly vs non-scholarly sources - academic resources Research ready" (1:58) from Southern Cross University Library

Scholarly and Non-Scholarly Characteristics

Scholarly Sources cover of The Journal of Politics

  • Can include articles and books
  • Scholarly articles are also referred to as peer-reviewed or refereed articles. (All peer-reviewed articles are scholarly, but not all scholarly articles undergo the peer-review process).
  • Scholarly books are often produced by university presses (e.g. University of California Press) or other publishers focused on academic literature
  • Include citations, usually lots of them!
  • Written by and for faculty, researchers or scholars (research-focused)
  • Relatively long
  • Few to no pictures, but may have charts & graphs

Non-Scholarly a.k.a. Popular Cover of The Atlantic magazine

  • Can include articles, books, and many other information sources from blogs to government publications
  • Sources that are non-scholarly can still be useful and credible
  • Produced by a variety of individuals and organizations from reputable organizations to self-publishers
  • Citations may or may not be included
  • Written for a variety of audiences
  • Usually shorter, but can be long
  • Many pictures, attractive graphics