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ENG 101: English Composition I - Tangvik

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  • Monogamy
  • Monogamous

Popular Literature vs. Scholarly Peer-Reviewed Literature: What's the Difference?

Purpose

Academic: To communicate research and scholarly ideas
Popular: To inform and entertain the general reader

Audience

Academic: Scholars and students
Popular: The general public

Scope

Academic: Very narrow and specific subjects
Popular: Broad variety of public interest topics, cross disciplinary

Authors

Academic: Scholars, researchers, experts, usually listed with their institutional affiliation
Popular: Employees of the publication, freelancers (including journalists and scholars)

Characteristics

Academic

  • Little or no background information given
  • Technical language and discipline-specific jargon
  • Peer reviewed
  • Bibliography/References/Citations included
  • Procedures and materials often described in detail
  • Articles are longer, often over 5 pages

Popular

  • Little technical language or jargon
  • Few or no cited references
  • No bibliography
  • General summaries of background information
  • Contain numerous advertisements
  • Articles are usually brief; between 1-7 pages.

Source: https://www.libraries.rutgers.edu/scholarly_articles


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