By Silvan Spicer

How can I tell if my source is a popular source?

Popular sources usually serve different purposes and audiences than scholarly sources. You can examine the following to see if your source aligns with the common characteristics of popular sources:

  • Audience: Readership characteristics may differ slightly from publication to publication, but overall, usually for a general readership that doesn’t have any particular expertise or advanced education.
  • Topic: Usually covers a broader range of topics in shorter articles. Articles offer overviews of subject matter and reportage rather than original research. There might be feature articles and reports on current social issues and public opinion. 
  • Purpose: Usually written to inform readers about current events, issues, or popular culture. May also aim to entertain, promote a certain point of view/bias, and/or sell products.
  • Author: Usually written by staff writers, freelancers, journalists. Author might be a generalist – they don’t have a specific area of expertise. If written by staff or freelance writers, the article might not actually be attributed to a specific name – the author might be “staff.” 
  • Form: Mix of short and in-depth articles on a wide variety of subjects. There are usually high-impact visuals and designs, including photos and colorful graphics. There may be lots of advertisements. Keep in mind that ads may be hidden if you have an ad blocker! 
  • Use of sources: There may be few or no formal citations. References or links to other sources may be obscure or circular (only referencing their own website). There is often no guarantee that the sources the article uses are credible.
  • Quality assurance: Usually edited and approved for publication in-house, often by a single editor who often may have strong opinions about what they want published/not published.
  • Language/Voice: Uses a simple and non-technical writing style, with general, popular language most will be able to understand. 

What does it mean for a source to be credible/reputable?

Using a credible/reputable source means that you can trust the quality of information that the source contains. Credible/reputable sources often make an attempt to limit outright bias, or at the very least to be forthright about their intentions and/or biases.

How can I tell if a popular source is credible/reputable?

Examine the following characteristics to determine whether your source meets standards of credibility.

  1. Evaluate the author. Is there an author? What are their credentials? Can you find an author bio page, either on the website, or through a Google search? What does the author’s purpose for writing the source seem to be?
  2. Evaluate the organization. Who is publishing the information? What are their goals/values/biases? Do they have an agenda? Are they trying to sell readers something? Pay particular attention to whether the site is owned/hosted by a business entity or corporation. Company websites often look extremely credible, but this doesn’t mean that they don’t have a strong bias based on their own financial motives.
  3. Evaluate the purpose of the site. Why does the site exist? What is it trying to do? Inform people? Get people to click on ads? Get people to buy a certain product? 
  4. Evaluate the specific information in the article/on the page. Does the author cite their sources and/or give readers access to an original source for their info? How is the piece written/edited? Are they reporting, summarizing, analyzing, arguing, or doing something else? 

Is it okay to use a popular source that has a bias/agenda?

Just because a source has a bias or agenda doesn’t mean that it isn’t necessarily reputable. Oftentimes, popular sources will report on events/people/information, but with a significant slant. What is important is that you are able to evaluate the source and figure out what the source’s slant is, and that you transfer that understanding over to your own paper when you talk about the source. Make sure you don’t present an illusion of objectivity when a source you’re using is very clearly not an objective source.

How do I find credible/reputable popular sources?

  1. Go through your university library/databases. In addition to scholarly (peer-reviewed) sources, university libraries also usually maintain databases of credible popular sources, such as archives of newspapers and magazines. 
  2. Use the right type of source for the type of information you are looking for. If you are looking for statistics information, credible sources include things like encyclopedias and government reporting/statistics pages. Online dictionaries and encyclopedias are great for finding definitions and general information about terms/topics. 
  3. Default to sources created/maintained by credible, professional entities. These types of entities include governments, research think tanks, professional organizations (like the APA or ABA), and libraries/databases.
  4. Be wary of articles. Anyone with a Medium account can write an “article” and post it online, but that doesn’t mean that it’s going to be credible. Unfortunately, Google search results are often filled with troves of disreputable sources that only exist to sell a product or garner page views. If you find an article you like, it is imperative that you evaluate it closely to make sure it is a credible source. Larger news publications are usually credible sources, but even then, make sure you pay attention to any potential biases the author might have. AllSides has a rating system for news publications that might prove helpful in these cases: https://www.allsides.com/media-bias/ratings

Popular sources for different academic disciplines:

Sources used: