In the college-level information environment, it is crucial to understand that there are different types of information sources that are created for different audiences and serve different functions. The video below contrasts popular and scholarly information sources.
One way to think about popular information sources is to think of it as information for the populace...information for everyday people. It's not always popular, as in liked by many people. Most of our professors will require us to work largely with scholarly sources, so the earlier we can tell the difference between the two the better. NOTE: This is not to say that popular information sources have no value in scholarly work. In some cases, popular information sources can provide us good background information; other times they can help inspire or push us towards interesting topics or arguments; still other times, especially when a topic or event is very new, popular information sources maybe the only information sources available; they can be objects of analysis for a course--for example, for a marketing class we may analyze magazine ads for their use of color or analyze how people of color are portrayed in them.
Common sources of popular information may include:
Many disciplines have trade and professional journals, magazines, newsletters, blogs, etc., meaning they have publications to specifically teach practitioners more about the field, new techniques, new technologies, new theoretical perspectives, etc. Scholarly information, again, is created for other scholars and experts (and students), but trade and professional sources are more about how to put the significant concepts of a field into practice. So, for example, Education Week is a website that was once a print publication that written by educators for educators, covering issues like changes in education laws, equity in education, promising teaching techniques, etc.
Some trade sources actually straddle the line between trade and popular information sources; Psychology Today, for example, was originally published for clinical psychologists. It still contains a lot of work for that audience; however, it has become well-selling magazine for everyday readers interested in self-improvement, dealing with conditions like depression and anxiety, etc. Because of that, a lot of content is geared towards a popular audience...so it is an information source that has characteristics of both types of information sources.
As students, these sources can be really useful for helping
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