During the research process you will need to evaluate a variety of factors in which the information presented plays a role in quality, relevance, authority, and reliability of a source.
Cue |
How strong is this approach? |
How much effort will it take? |
What tactics could I use? |
Why am I looking for this information? |
Strong |
Easy to moderate |
|
How did this come into my life? |
Medium to strong |
Easy to challenging |
|
Is it easy to investigate? |
Medium to strong |
Easy to challenging |
|
Do I know what this is? |
Strong; Weak if asking "How does it look?" instead |
Moderate |
|
Is this reviewed? |
Medium to strong |
Easy to challenging |
|
Does the creator know what they're talking about? |
Medium to strong |
Easy to moderate |
|
Does this information make sense? |
Weak, except for subject experts |
Often automatic; when mindfully considering, easy to challenging depending on level of subject expertise |
|
Criteria | Scholarly Article | Popular Article |
Authorship |
Authors are scholars and experts in the field. Authors are always named, and their institutional affiliation is given. |
Authors are staff writers or journalists. |
Publisher |
Publishers may be university presses or professional associations. Articles may be edited through the peer-review process by scholars in the same field of study. |
Publishers are corporations, working for profit. |
Content/Length |
Articles are longer with a focus on research projects, methodology and theory. Language is more formal, technical, using discipline specific terminology. |
Articles may be shorter with a general focus on the topic and written for news or entertainment value. |
Sources Cited |
Sources are cited and a bibliography or footnotes provided to document the research. |
Sources are not usually cited. |
Structure |
Article may include these sections: abstract, literature review, methodology, results, conclusion, and a bibliography. |
Specific format is not followed. |
Audience |
Audience consists of academics, scholars, researchers, and professionals. |
Audience is the general public. |