What is a popular article?
Andrew Mclaughlin
Updated on March 02, 2026
Popular Article (Magazine) Articles are shorter and are written for the general public. General interest topics or current events are covered.
What makes a popular article?
Popular sources — intended for a general audience of readers, they are written typically to entertain, inform, or persuade. Popular sources help you answer who, what, when, and where questions and are essential for finding information about current events or issues.
What is a popular source in research?
What Is a Popular Source? A popular source: Is a publication, such as a newspaper or magazine that you could buy in a grocery store. Is often illustrated with colorful pictures and advertisements. Is many times written by journalists or professional writers for a general audience.
What is a popular news article?
Articles in popular publications are those published in the general, mass media. The intended audience is the general public. They are magazines and newspapers that can be commonly found for sale at newsstands and supermarkets.
What is a popular source example?
Examples include general news, business and entertainment publications such as Time Magazine, Business Weekly, Vanity Fair. Note, special interest publications which are not specifically written for an academic audience are also considered “popular” i.e., National Geographic, Scientific American, Psychology Today.
How do you know if an article is popular or scholarly?
Determine if an article is scholarly or popular
| Scholarly Journal (Professional) | Popular (News or General Interest) |
|---|---|
| Includes few–if any–advertisements | Many full-page ads take up lots of space |
| Articles are usually lengthy and use specialized vocabulary | Articles are generally short, written in non-technical language |
What is the difference between academic writing and popular writing?
Academic Sources “Academic” and “popular” are terms used to describe a source’s content, purpose, audience and more. Popular sources are useful for getting ideas for a topic or for background and anecdotal information. They written for a general audience, and use non-technical language.
What is an example of popular magazine?
Examples of popular magazines include GQ, Cosmopolitan, and Sports Illustrated.
Where can I find popular articles?
Popular articles can be found in general interest publications like newspaper and magazines.
How do you know if an article is a popular press?
Popular press sources are magazines, newspapers, and books intended to inform or entertain general audiences. They sometimes feature lavish illustrations, rarely include citations, and often include advertisements. Authors are usually journalists and paid professional writers.
What are popular sources of information?
In this section you will learn about the following types of information sources:
- Books.
- Encyclopedias.
- Magazines.
- Databases.
- Newspapers.
- Library Catalog.
- Internet.
What is the difference between scholarly and popular publications?
A popular publications is written by a journalist for a wider audience, trade publications are written by professionals from a specific filed to be understood by people related to the profession while scholarly publications are written by researchers after extensive researches (“How Do I Tell the Difference Between Scholarly, Trade, and Popular
What are the characteristics of an article?
The article is usually on a well-defined topic or topics that are related in some way, such as a factual account of a newsworthy event. The writer of a well-written article is seen as objective and showing all sides to an issue.
What is scholarly vs. popular?
Scholarly Resources. A scholarly resource (also called academic,peer-reviewed,or refereed resources) are written by experts in their field.
How do I find a scholarly article?
Finding Scholarly Articles. To find scholarly articles in a library database: Go to the Healey Library homepage. Click on Databases List from the menu on the left. Select a database by title, subject or material type. If you are off-campus, you will need to enter your campus username and password.
