Scholarly Sources and Research

Explain at least five differences between popular and scholarly sources used in research.

Popular sources differ significantly from scholarly sources. Popular sources are published
in newspapers and magazines and often cover eye-catching topics, while scholarly sources are
published in journals that are subject-specific and are often geared towards experts and scholars
in a specific field (Cendejas, 2014). Popular sources are meant to be read and understood by the
general population; no expertise is necessary to get the message, while scholarly sources are
meant for researchers and experts in a certain field, and articles are often peer-reviewed or
refereed. Professional terms are used thus limiting the audience to only people who understand
the terms. The review process for publishing popular sources is often short, compared to the
process of publishing scholarly sources, which entails gathering subject-specific data,
information and research, and presenting the information to other scholars for criticism. The
reliability and quality of peer-reviewed articles are greater. Further, popular sources are often
short articles ranging from one page to a few pages, while scholarly sources are usually long
mostly ranging from ten pages to thirty pages. Lastly, popular sources hardly include references
and in-texts citations, while they are present in scholarly sources.
Summary of a peer-reviewed article
The article, Impact of Political Instability on Economic Growth, Poverty, and Income
Inequality by Shehzadi et al. explore a study on the effects of both recognized and informal
political instability on the economy. The authors state that a country that is politically unstable
has high poverty levels and income distribution is irregular with a wide gap between the rich and

the poor. As a result, economic growth is negatively affected. The article improves on already
existing literature that examines the relationship between the distribution of income and poverty
and political instability. Authors use direct channels that link political instability to income
inequality and poverty. The authors conclude that political instability has a significant and
positive impact on the level of poverty. The article concludes that high levels of political
instability in a country or region increase poverty. Political instability through occurrences such
as Coups D’Etat directly affects economic growth and indirectly causes poverty and income
inequality.
Summary of a popular Source
The article on the New York Times, Study Shows Income Gap Between Rich and Poor
Keeps Growing, With Deadly Effects by Lola Fadulu, states that America is experiencing a
increasing wealth disparity between the rich and the poor. The gap is not only increasing the
distance in wealth and incomes but also people’s life spans. While the rich live longer, the lives
of those struggling in poverty are shortened. Further, Fadulu states that almost seventy-five
percent of the rich people who were between fifty and sixty years in 1992 are still alive, while
over fifty percent of the poor people who were in the same age bracket in 1992 have since died.
Poverty has become a life-threatening issue for most Americans. Fadulu concludes the article by
stating that if no action is urgently taken to solve the economic distress that is eating away the
health of many Americans, then an entire generation could just be condemned to an early death.
A comparison of visual cues used in the popular source and the scholarly source
The scholarly source is sixteen pages long, while the popular source is four pages long.
There are no citations included in the popular source while the scholarly source has used quite a

number. Further, the popular source has an eye-catching title, which arouses the interest of the
reader; it is titled, Study Shows Income Gap Between Rich and Poor Keeps Growing, With
Deadly Effects. (Fadulu, 2019). The word ‘deadly has been used to arouse the interest of the
reader. On the contrary, the scholarly source is titled, Impact of Political Instability on Economic
Growth, Poverty and Income Inequality. The article is formal and not eye-catching as is the case
with the scholarly source. Additionally, the scholarly article uses professional terms, such as
Heteroscedasticity Consistent OLS, which are best understood by researchers and scholars in the
specific field that the article is based (Shehzadi et al., 2019). The popular source, on the other
hand, uses simple language that is easily understood by the general public. Lastly, the scholarly
source is published in an academic journal while the popular source is published on a newspaper
page, The New York Times.

References

Cendejas, M. (2014). Scholarly and Popular Resources(1) – Ashford University. Retrieved 19
February 2020, from
https://ashford.mediaspace.kaltura.com/media/Scholarly+and+Popular+Resources%281
%29/0_ue1ih9qt
Fadulu, L. (2019). Study Shows Income Gap Between Rich and Poor Keeps Growing, With
Deadly Effects. Retrieved 19 February 2020, from
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/10/us/politics/gao-income-gap-rich-poor.html
Shehzadi, I., Siddique, H. M. A., & Majeed, M. T. (2019). Impact of Political Instability on
Economic Growth, Poverty And Income Inequality.