Scholarly vs. Popular
Scholarly Sources
Both scholarly and peer-reviewed articles are written by experts in academic or professional fields. Scholarly articles are published in journals for specific academic disciplines. Many scholarly journals are also peer-reviewed.
Peer-reviewed articles are submitted to reviewers who are experts in the field. Because the reviewers specialize in the same scholarly area as the author, they are considered the author’s peers (hence “peer review”).
Both scholarly and peer-reviewed articles are excellent places to find what has been studied or researched on a topic, as well as find references to additional relevant sources of information.
Popular Sources
Popular sources are written for a general audience and are intended to inform readers on a broad range of 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 for 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 usually written by journalists, staff writers, or free-lance writers
- do not report on original research, are not peer-reviewed, and rarely include citations
Source: OCL Articles research guide
Searching OBIS
To find books on graffiti and street art search by SUBJECT and by KEYWORD.
| Search OBIS by SUBJECT: | Search OBIS by KEYWORD: | To remove irrelevant results from a KEYWORD search use AND NOT |
| Street Art | Graffiti | Graffiti and not Kinsey |
| Graffiti | Graffiti and women |
Graffiti and Street Art books are located in several call number areas. Here are a few:
ND. 2590
GT 3912
NK 3654
Databases
- Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new windowMultidisciplinary - good for nearly all subjects. Scholarly and trade journals, popular magazines, newspapers, conference proceedings, book reviews, and more.
- JSTOR This link opens in a new windowScholarly journal archive for the humanities, social sciences and natural sciences; current issues (usually the last 2-5 years) are not digitized by JSTOR and may be obtained elsewhere.
- Web of Science This link opens in a new windowScholarly literature in the sciences, health and medicine, social sciences, arts, and humanities and proceedings of international conferences, symposia, seminars, colloquia, workshops, and conventions. Includes cited reference searching across many databases. Search all databases in Web of Science (includes Medline and BIOSIS, direct link for on-campus users). Dates of coverage: 1965 to present.
OBIS vs Summon
OBIS
The online library catalog of all print and electronic materials held by the Oberlin College Libraries.
Summon
Summon provides access to millions of sources of all types (books, articles, audio, videos, images, etc.) on nearly any subject.
Source: Search Tools page
Librarian
(Mary Church Terrell Main Library)
alonso.avila@oberlin.edu
440-775-8285
Librarian / Research Help
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