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FILA 150 Digital Technology Class Guide

Academic vs. Popular Sources

How do you know if a title is an academic source or a popular source? What is peer review? What about the sources I find through Google?

An academic/scholarly resource:

  • Is generally written by faculty members, medical doctors, and scholars for the purpose of scholarship
  • Uses technical language that is not intended to be understand by the general populace, but rather an expert in the field in which it is published
  • Often will go through the peer-review process, which is intended to ensure the validity of the resource:

A popular resource:

  • Is ordinarily written by a professional journalist or writer, and is intended to be read by a general populace (rather than experts in the field)
  • Written in easily-understood language and cover broader topics
  • Are not evaluated by experts in the field
  • Lack a list of resources that were referenced by the author during the writing process

A web source:

  • Is accessible directly through Google
  • Can be written and published by anyone (whether they are from the government, a college or institution, or if they have no credentials at all)
  • Does not go through any vetting at all, whether it be peer-review or an editor

You need a minimum of three outside sources for this assignment. Use the databases below to search for both academic and popular sources.

Useful Databases

Relevant Databases

Keep in mind: there are a lot of databases to choose from, and you might need to go to a more specific database for your topic. If you're having trouble finding articles about your topic, it's often because you're using the wrong database.

Try searching using different databases that make more sense for your major. To do this:

  1. visit our A–Z Databases page
  2. use the subject dropdown to select your subject
  3. try to search through the "Best Bets" databases 

If you're having trouble determining what database to use, reach out to us! Email a librarian at research@bridgewater.edu.