• Daily local, national, and international news, events, and editorial coverage
• Contextualized statistics and photojournalism
• Record of events and quotes from experts, officials, and witnesses

• Authors usually aren't subject matter experts, though they may consult experts (search for these experts in databases to find scholarly works)
• Breaking stories are often fragmentary and conflicting, corrections are likely to follow
• There is often an editorial bias.

• Current information
• Short, easy to understand articles (including analysis, interviews, opinions, etc.)
• Photographs and illustrations

• Authors aren't usually experts
• Sources may be cited informally (these can be used to find better sources)
• If there are no sources, you should be cautious (watch for informal citation).
• There is typically an editorial bias.

• Current information related to a profession or trade
• Specialized articles related to a particular discipline or profession (including context and analysis)

• Articles vary between short and easy to lengthy and highly specific
• Author expertise varies, pay attention to this
• Sources may be cited informally
• If no sources are cited, be cautious
• Has characteristics in common with both popular magazines and scholarly journals
• There may be bias

• Recent research on a topic
• Focused, peer-reviewed articles written by experts and reviewed by experts
• Data, statistics, charts, and graphs
• Bibliographies of other sources

• Terminology and/or data may be difficult for novices to interpret, allow yourself time to process and ask a librarian for help.
• There may be a bias, as with all information, so read critically.
• Not all research is created equal; predatory journals churn out low-quality literature for $$. 

• Comprehensive overviews of a topic
• Background and historical context
• Bibliographies of other sources

Popular books are intended for a general audience and are often written by journalists, pundits, or professional writers.

 Scholarly books are written by subject matter experts and are often detailed and discipline-specific in their language and approach.

Here is a chart to help you determine the differences between scholarly and popular books.

• The author's level of expertise on a topic matters- determine why you should trust them
• Some information is timeless, but sometimes the date of publication matters
• There is always almost bias, what is it, and how does it influence the writing?

• Government data and information
• Company information
• Open Access resources
• Quick answers to general info questions
• News articles

• If you cannot determine who is responsible for the information and why you trust them- don't trust them. 
• If a website fails to cite sources—don't trust them.
• There is almost always a bias, what is it, and how does it influence the information?