Skip to Main Content

Course & Subject Guides

Comparative Politics - Greensburg Campus

This guide will assist students in Dr. Adams' Comparative Politics course PS0300.

Types of Articles

Although it is not always appropriate to use scholarly articles, they are considered to be the gold standard for quality.

What is a scholarly article?

Often referred to as "peer-reviewed" or "academic," scholarly articles are concerned with academic study, especially research, exhibiting methods and attitudes of a scholar.

What are the general characteristics of scholarly articles?

  • a sober, serious look
  • often contain many graphs and charts but few glossy pages or colorful pictures
  • always cite their sources in the form of footnotes, endnotes, or a bibliography
  • articles are written by a scholar in the field about which they are writing
  • assumes some scholarly background on the part of the reader (can be more difficult to read than other article types)
  • main purpose is to report on original research or experimentation

What are substantive news articles?

These are often newspaper articles or articles published in high-quality, serious magazines, such as The Economist, U.S. News and World Report, National Geographic, and Scientific American.  You might also be able to find these types of articles on newspaper or magazine websites, as well as those by major news corporations like CNN, Fox News, or Huffington Post.

What are the characteristics of substantive news articles?

  • may be attractive in appearance, although some are found in newspapers
  • often heavily illustrated, generally with photographs
  • sometimes cite sources, though more often do not
  • articles written by a member of the editorial staff, a scholar, or a freelance writer
  • language is geared to any educated audience (usually a little easier to read than scholarly articles)
  • main purpose is to provide information, in a general manner, to a broad audience of concerned citizens

What are popular articles?

These articles are usually published in popular magazines, like Sports Illustrated, Ebony, People, Shape, and Rolling Stone, and are geared towards an audience that has an interest in that topic (sports, popular culture, music, etc.)

What are the characteristics of popular articles?

  • often attractive in appearence with glossy pages and colorful pictures and graphics
  • rarely, if ever, are sources cited in these articles  (Information published is often second or third hand and the original source is sometimes obscure.)
  • articles are usually very short
  • written in a simple language and usually easy to read
  • main purpose is to entertain the reader

Why do I need to evaluate my sources?

Why do I need to evaluate my sources? Because your paper is only as good as your sources.

Let's use a practical example to illustrate this.  Pretend you are fixing up an old car, and you'd like to sell it for a small profit.  A lot of parts in the car don't work, so you need to buy some to get it up and running.  Can you go to the junkyard and just get any old parts?  No, not if it you want it to run. 

First, you need to have an understanding of how that particular car works, and then you need to be sure that you have good quality parts.  You don't want the car to break down right after someone buys it.  The car will only be as good as the parts that you put into it.

Writing a paper is like fixing up that car.  You can't just use any old source that you find on the Internet or in the library's databases.  First, you need to have an understanding of your topic or argument.  Then you need to be sure that you pick sources that are not only appropriate to your thesis, but ones that are also of good quality.  Like the car, you don't want your paper breaking down halfway through!

Resources for Evaluating Sources

Here are tips and guidelines for evaluating sources.