Primary sources include original documents, photographs, interviews, and so forth. For example, if you are writing a paper about the book "Lord of the Rings" then the book itself, an interview with the author, and could serve as primary sources of evidence.

Secondary sources present information that has already been processed or interpreted by someone else.  So, for the same paper, a book review from a magazine or a collection of essays about the book would be secondary sources.

Depending on the context, the same item could be either a primary or a secondary source: if I am writing about people’s relationships with animals, a collection of stories about animals might be a secondary source; if I am writing about how editors gather diverse stories into collections, the same book might now function as a primary source.

Knowing the distinction between scholarly, popular, and trade sources is an important step for any student.  Using scholarly sources in your research ensures that your papers have academic merit and are backed by actual studies and work that has peer reviewed by professionals in the field.

Scholarly sources such as journals, academic books, and dissertations, undergo a formal evaluation process before publication. These sources may or may not be peer-reviewed depending on the journal they are published in.

Popular sources such as magazines, newspapers, and  do not typically go through the same review process as scholarly resources; in many cases, popular resources are reviewed by a single editor, who may or may not have expertise in the subject area. Popular sources are generally not considered to be scholarly or peer-reviewed.

Trade sources are written for those who work in a specific industry. These sources tend to publish news, statistics, trends, and other information relevant to their industry. Authors can be staff editors, journalists, practitioners, or academics in the field. They can be published by trade or professional associations. Articles or entries may be short and may not include references, or not nearly as many references as scholarly journal articles. Trade sources are generally not considered to be scholarly or peer-reviewed.

For more information, visit our scholarly, popular, and trade sources page.

A scholarly publication, also known as academic publication, is authored for professionals or academic researchers.  They are written by experts in their particular field and are often affiliated with colleges, universities, or research centers.  

Peer-Review Process

Articles within undergo a formal evaluation process before publication that involves review and approval by the author’s peers (experts in the same subject area). This helps to ensure high-quality information and accuracy of results.  Peer-reviewed journals publish articles only if they have passed through the official editorial process. The peer review and evaluation system is used to safeguard, maintain, and improve the quality of scholarly materials published in serials.

It is important to keep in mind that not all scholarly journals go through the peer review process.  Checking the Scholarly/Peer Reviewed limiter in the Library's ONEsearch or EBSCOhost/Gale/Proquest Databases does not make the distinction between scholarly and peer-reviewed journal articles in their results.

If you need help determining whether a scholarly journal is peer reviewed or we recommend using Publication Finder.