Popular and Scholarly Articles

Characteristics	Scholarly Source	Popular Source
Cover examples
Appearance	Sober and serious in appearance. May contain graphs and charts.	Frequently slick and glossy in appearance. Will often include graphics (photographs, illustrations). Might include advertisements.
Audience	Scholars and students	General audience
Author/s	Scholars in the field of study. Affiliations of the author/s usually listed.	Journalists, etc. Authors are usually not experts on the subject
Documentation	Sources always cited in footnotes and/or bibliography	Does not usually have a bibliography. Sources are not usually cited or they are cited informally
Purpose	Report and/or review the results of original research or experimentation	Provides general information and/or entertains readers
Review Process	Many scholarly journals are "refereed journals" - they undergo a process called "peer-review" where other scholars in the field examine the articles before being published	Sometimes edited and then published Do not go through a formal "peer-review" process