Evaluating
Scholarly Sources:
• Are written for academic audience, by a professional expert in the field
• Cite sources
• Include methodology and are narrowly focused.
• Showcase new research often at the forefront of knowledge.
* May generally be identified via a quick scan of the document
Specific Examples Include:
• Journal of American History
• The Journal of the American Medical Association
Scholarly sources
should be used to understand new knowledge and how it was created.
Popular sources
should be used to understand information that affects a broad audience.
Appropriate Usage of Scholarly
and Popular Sources
Secondary Sources:
Analyze and/or interpret events or information based on previous published sources.
Examples
• Analyze and/or interpret primary sources
• Provide a second-hand account of a historical event
• Interpret creative work
• Analyze and/or interpret research results
• Analyze and/or interpret scientific discoveries
* Generally identified after reading the document
Appropriate Usage of Primary and Secondary Sources
Primary sources
should be used as evidence within context and to test hypothesis.
Secondary sources
should be used to understand the context of information and/or an idea
Primary Sources are:
An original, first hand-account of an event by a participant or witness, in a factual, non-interpretive way.
Examples
• Autobiographies, memoirs, diaries, correspondences, narratives, interviews
• First-hand newspaper and magazine accounts of events
• Records of organizations and government agencies
• Original works of literature, art or entertainment
• Published results of research studies, scientific experiments, and/or clinical trials
• Proceedings of conferences and meetings
* Generally identified after reading the document
Specific Examples include:
• Time
• U.S. News & World Report
• National Geographic
Popular Sources:
• Are written for the general public, by journalists/freelance writers
• Often don't cite sources
• Focus on narrative rather than methodology
• Can offer an attractive layout, with glossy photos
* May generally be identified via a quick scan of the document
Click on each header tab to read through each of the key concepts.
This module has five sections:
— The overview page
— An interactive guide to Evaluation Criteria
— Two activities to review the information from the guide
— A quiz
— Additional resources
After finishing this module, you should be able to:
1. Identify whether a piece of literature is: scholarly, popular, primary, and/or secondary.
2. Explain what those type of sources should be used for in an academic setting.
Estimated time: 15 minutes
Click each link below for a sample article.
Scholarly/
Primary
Popular/
Primary
Scholarly/
Secondary
Popular/
Secondary
* Click image to view a larger copy of the Evaluation Criteria Matrix.
Concepts
Overview
Sample Articles
Activity
Resources
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