Scholarly vs Popular Sources: Distinguishing between the two.
Objectives: to have students explore the differences in presentation and style of journals and popular magazines to give students guidelines in identifying scholarly sources
PGE du jour: RD (Reading) - The student  reads  literary, informational text and other media for a variety of purposes. The proficient student: RD2 Demonstrates initial understanding of informational text (GSE - R-7) and uses strategies to analyze, understand, and interpret informational text across content areas (GSE - R-8). T (technology) - The student  applies technology .  The proficient student: T1  Manipulates technology as a tool to gather, to analyze, to organize, and to present information.
Reading Levels of Popular Periodicals Table 3. Reading levels of popular periodicals and the estimated percentage share of adult readers in the U.S. 30% 9 Reader's Digest 30% 9 Time 30% 9 Harpers 25% 10 USA Today 25% 10 Washington Post 25% 10 New York Times 25% 10 New Yorker 20% 11 Chicago Tribune 20% 11 Atlantic Monthly 18% 12 Los Angeles Times % of Readers Grade Level Periodical
Maintained by: Ted D. Smith,  [email_address] Last Modified: 09/22/2006  Contains ads and photographs  Glossy  Often sold at newsstands or bookstores  Usually restarts pagination with each issue  Usually have quite a broad subject focus  Primarily print with few pictures  Tables, graphs, and diagrams are often included  Usually few or no ads - if there are ads, they are for books, journals, conferences, or services in the field  Often have "journal," "review," or "quarterly" as part of the title  Successive issues in a volume often have continuous pagination  Usually have a narrow subject focus  General Characteristics  Easy to read - aimed at the layperson  Articles are usually short, and often entertain as they inform  Assumes a level of knowledge in the field  Usually contains specialized language (jargon)  Articles are often lengthy  Writing Style Commercial, for profit Often a scholarly or professional organization or academic press Publishers Editor works for publisher Editorial board of outside scholars (known as  peer review ) Editors Rarely includes footnotes Includes a bibliography, references, notes and/or works cited section Footnotes Journalists or freelance writers Articles may or may not be signed  Experts in the field (i.e., faculty members, researchers)  Articles are signed, often including author's credentials and affiliation  Authors General public Scholars, researchers, practitioners Audience Popular Sources Scholarly Sources
Are popular sources allowed? Ask your teacher/professor if the use of popular sources is allowed (and if so, how many of your sources can be popular) Just because an article appears in a popular source does not mean the information contained in the article is useless.
MLA Format:  Articles from Databases Author's name (if not available, use the article title as the first part of the citation)  Article Title  Periodical Name  Publication Date  Page Number/Range  Database Name  Service Name  Name of the library where or through which the service was accessed  Name of the town/city where service was accessed  Date of Access  URL of the service (but not the whole URL for the article, since those are usually ve0ry long and won't be easily re-used by someone trying to retrieve the information) The generic citation form would look like this : Author. &quot;Title of Article.&quot;  Periodical Name  Volume Number (if necessary) Publication Date: page number-page number. Database name. Service name. Library Name, City, State. Date of access <electronic address of the database>. Article from Student Resource Center Gold : Tangum, Marion M, and Marjorie Smelstor. &quot;Hurston's and Angelou's Visual Art: The Distancing Vision and the Beckoning Gaze.”  The Southern Literary Journal.  31. 1 (Fall 1998): 80(1).  Student Resource Center - Gold . Gale. Ponaganset High School Lib, N. Scituate, RI.  23 July 2008 <http://find.galegroup.com/srcx/>.

Scholarly vs Popular Sources

  • 1.
    Scholarly vs PopularSources: Distinguishing between the two.
  • 2.
    Objectives: to havestudents explore the differences in presentation and style of journals and popular magazines to give students guidelines in identifying scholarly sources
  • 3.
    PGE du jour:RD (Reading) - The student reads literary, informational text and other media for a variety of purposes. The proficient student: RD2 Demonstrates initial understanding of informational text (GSE - R-7) and uses strategies to analyze, understand, and interpret informational text across content areas (GSE - R-8). T (technology) - The student applies technology . The proficient student: T1 Manipulates technology as a tool to gather, to analyze, to organize, and to present information.
  • 4.
    Reading Levels ofPopular Periodicals Table 3. Reading levels of popular periodicals and the estimated percentage share of adult readers in the U.S. 30% 9 Reader's Digest 30% 9 Time 30% 9 Harpers 25% 10 USA Today 25% 10 Washington Post 25% 10 New York Times 25% 10 New Yorker 20% 11 Chicago Tribune 20% 11 Atlantic Monthly 18% 12 Los Angeles Times % of Readers Grade Level Periodical
  • 5.
    Maintained by: TedD. Smith, [email_address] Last Modified: 09/22/2006 Contains ads and photographs Glossy Often sold at newsstands or bookstores Usually restarts pagination with each issue Usually have quite a broad subject focus Primarily print with few pictures Tables, graphs, and diagrams are often included Usually few or no ads - if there are ads, they are for books, journals, conferences, or services in the field Often have &quot;journal,&quot; &quot;review,&quot; or &quot;quarterly&quot; as part of the title Successive issues in a volume often have continuous pagination Usually have a narrow subject focus General Characteristics Easy to read - aimed at the layperson Articles are usually short, and often entertain as they inform Assumes a level of knowledge in the field Usually contains specialized language (jargon) Articles are often lengthy Writing Style Commercial, for profit Often a scholarly or professional organization or academic press Publishers Editor works for publisher Editorial board of outside scholars (known as peer review ) Editors Rarely includes footnotes Includes a bibliography, references, notes and/or works cited section Footnotes Journalists or freelance writers Articles may or may not be signed Experts in the field (i.e., faculty members, researchers) Articles are signed, often including author's credentials and affiliation Authors General public Scholars, researchers, practitioners Audience Popular Sources Scholarly Sources
  • 6.
    Are popular sourcesallowed? Ask your teacher/professor if the use of popular sources is allowed (and if so, how many of your sources can be popular) Just because an article appears in a popular source does not mean the information contained in the article is useless.
  • 7.
    MLA Format: Articles from Databases Author's name (if not available, use the article title as the first part of the citation) Article Title Periodical Name Publication Date Page Number/Range Database Name Service Name Name of the library where or through which the service was accessed Name of the town/city where service was accessed Date of Access URL of the service (but not the whole URL for the article, since those are usually ve0ry long and won't be easily re-used by someone trying to retrieve the information) The generic citation form would look like this : Author. &quot;Title of Article.&quot; Periodical Name Volume Number (if necessary) Publication Date: page number-page number. Database name. Service name. Library Name, City, State. Date of access <electronic address of the database>. Article from Student Resource Center Gold : Tangum, Marion M, and Marjorie Smelstor. &quot;Hurston's and Angelou's Visual Art: The Distancing Vision and the Beckoning Gaze.” The Southern Literary Journal. 31. 1 (Fall 1998): 80(1). Student Resource Center - Gold . Gale. Ponaganset High School Lib, N. Scituate, RI. 23 July 2008 <http://find.galegroup.com/srcx/>.