Scholarly sources contain articles that are written by experts in a certain field, often to report research findings. They are written for a specialized audience, so they often use technical terminology. Many, but not all, are peer-reviewed. Lancet Public Health is an example of a scholarly journal. Note that not all articles in a scholarly journal are necessarily scholarly; they may be letters to the editor, opinion pieces, etc.

To learn how to identify a scholarly journal article, read our FAQ answer What are scholarly or peer-reviewed articles?

To learn how to find scholarly sources using Library resources, read our FAQ answer How do I find a scholarly or peer-reviewed article?

Popular magazines are non-scholarly sources. This mean that they are not peer-reviewed and are generally written for a broad audience. If you’re looking at the print version, it usually contains ads and glossy photos.  Maclean’s (found here through Flipster) is an example of a popular magazine.

To learn more about the different types of sources, visit the Research hub in The Learning Portal.