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FYSP 184: Japanese Performing Arts/Film

What is a Popular Source?

Popular sources are written for a general audience and are intended to inform readers on various topics, such as news events, topics of current interest, and the business and entertainment worlds. Examples include newspapers, magazines, best-sellers, and consumer-oriented websites. They can be useful for getting ideas for a topic or background information. When used to document historical events, cultural practices, or public opinion, popular sources may be valuable to researchers as primary source material. 

Typical characteristics of popular sources:

  • informal in tone and scope, with language that is easily understood by the general public
  • often include illustrations or advertisements
  • content is usually written by journalists, staff writers, or free-lance writers
  • do not report on original research, are not peer-reviewed, and rarely include citations

Databases

Access to major paper's current and historic information, please visit here

For some magazine database: please visit here.