Communication Studies

Popular articles are about current events and popular culture, opinion pieces, self-help tips, or advertising written by staff writers or free-lancers

Example - Psychology Today

Trade articles are about news, trends, best practices, and products for a specific industry or profession Written by a professional in that field or journalist with subject area expertise

Example - Monitor on Psychology

Scholarly information:

• Is usually evaluated by experts before publication (peer-reviewed)
• Has footnotes or bibliographies to support research and point to further research on a topic
• Has authors that describe methodology and supply data to support research results

Example - Nature

Popular information:

• Is written for non- specialists
• Provides timely coverage of popular topics and current events
• Has good sources for topics related to popular culture

Example - Scientific American

Trade information:

• Has timely coverage of industry trends
• Sometimes contains short bibliographies
• Has shorter articles that are informal and practical

Example -Chemistry & Engineering News

Scholarly information:

• Has articles that often use specialized terminology that can be difficult for non-specialists to read
• Includes scholarly journals that are expensive and may not be readily available
• May not be as useful for current events or popular culture due to long research process

Example - The American Economic Review

Popular information:

• Has articles that are selected by editors who may know little about the topic
• Has authors that usually do not cite sources
• Publishes to make a profit; the line between informing and selling may be blurred

Example - The Economist

Trade information: 

• Is not peer-reviewed, though author is usually a professional in the field
• Uses specialized terminology of the field
• Has evidence drawn from personal experience or common knowledge but NOT rigorous research

Example: The Banker

Scholarly information:

• An example of a primary source that is scholarly would be observation field notes taken for ethnographic research.  
• An example of a secondary source that is scholarly would be a rhetorical analysis of Obama's public speeches.

Popular information:

• An example of a primary source that is popular would be a TV interview with a celebrity in audio/visual format.
• An example of a secondary source that is popular would be a magazine article about a celebrity that includes quotes.

Trade information:

• An example of a primary source that is trade would be shoe sale statistics in the footwear industry.
• An example of a secondary source that is trade would be an article analyzing shoe sale statistics and predicting future trends for the footwear industry.