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Remember that not every single one of these criteria must be present for a source to be scholarly or popular. If your information source meets more criteria for being one type than the other, you can use your good judgment to make the decision.

Criteria	Scholarly Sources	Popular Sources	Trade Sources	Why It's Important
Audience	Scholars, experts and researchers	General Public	Professionals within a specific occupation	Purpose
Language	Technical, scholarly language	Language for general readers	Technical languages for professionals	Intended Audience
Types of Articles	Original Research studies; tend to be more theoretical.	Reports on or summarizes research; entertainment and general interest articles.	How-to articles & news about the field, info on new products and advancements. Tend to be more practical	Accuracy & Reliability, Purpose
Author	Writers are experts	Writers are journalists; sometimes no author is listed	Writers are professionals or journalists	Authority & Credibility; Objectivity
References	References or bibliography are present	Usually, no references	Varies	Accuracy & Reliability
Authority	Often peer-reviewed/ refereed	Usually, freelance or staff journalists are paid to write	Written by professionals active in the field	Accuracy & Reliability
Content	Long, detailed articles	Short, entertaining or newsy articles	Articles are intended to share solutions and developments	Purpose
Graphics	Tables, graphs, and charts, few advertisements, color or photos	Glossy photos and advertisements, classifieds	Generally glossy and colorful. Ads are for professional resources	Purpose
Layout	Small type	Attractive layout and lots of color	Attractive layout and lots of color	Purpose
Access	Subscription Only	Buy at newsstand or subscribe	Typically, by subscription or professional membership	Intended Audience
Titles	"Journal", "Research", "Society", "Review" or "Association" in periodical title	Sometimes called magazines	Usually references some element of the profession	Purpose
Article Titles	Long, descriptive article titles	Cute, catchy titles	Cute, catchy titles	Intended Audience
Job Ads	Rarely includes job ads	Unless it's a newspaper, no job ads	Job ads for professionals in the field	Intended Audience
Frequency	Published less frequently--monthly, quarterly or annually	Published more frequently; weekly or monthly to keep up current events	Published more frequently; weekly or monthly to keep up with trends	Currency; Purpose
Publisher	An organization or association in the field or a university	Commercial publisher	Specialized publisher or professional organization	Credibility & Authority
Pagination	Continuous pagination	Generally, each issue paged separately	Generally, each issue paged separately	Intended Audience

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 © 1998 Susan Campbell, Kimberley Donnelly, and Steve Kerby