Scholarly vs. Popular Sources

When writing a research paper, professors will often ask that your information comes from scholarly sources

So what does this mean??

Scholarly Resources:

Often referred to as academic or peer-reviewed journals and articles.
For books, you should easily find qualified reviews (New York Times Review of Books, Choice, Kirkus Reviews).
More comprehensive writing as they are written for professionals in the field.
Written with the purpose of educating/informing the reader of academic research and studies.
Uses words and terms that are understandable by professionals in that discipline.
Could be boring and confusing to readers who are not professionals in that field.
Illustrations in articles are limited to tables and graphs.
Citations throughout of other works on the subject.
Any research conducted contains all methodologies and experiments conducted.