Discussion

Global Societal Issues

Five differences between popular and scholarly sources used in research

There are several differences between scholarly sources and popular sources; firstly, scholarly sources are written by experts in the respective fields of study such as professors and other professionals. Popular sources are not necessarily written by experts. In the same context, scholarly sources must go through a peer review process for purposes of evaluation by the independent experts. Popular sources can be posted anytime without evaluation. Similarly, popular sources are associated with multiple adverts and links while scholarly sources have minimal advertising. Most importantly popular sources can be written based on personal opinion, thoughts or sometimes fabricated stories or fiction, unlike scholarly resources which are based on original research and intellectual inquiries. Lastly, scholarly sources must have references and footnotes, unlike the popular sources.

Article Summary

Lopresti, J. W., & Mumford, K. J. (2016). Who Benefits from a Minimum Wage Increase?. ILR Review, 69(5), 1171-1190.

The scholarly source titled " Who Benefits from a Minimum Wage Increaser” By Ohn Lopresti, and Kevin Mumford (2016) focuses on the effects of the minimum wage. The article examines a hypothetical situation of the effects of an increase in the minimum wage on low wage workers compared to no increase in the minimum wage of the same workers. The authors focus on explaining how much the minimum wage debate affects different categories of people with regard to their ages, gender, income, and race. There is no bias in the article and provides facts and statistics which make it a reliable and strong source for my final argument.

The Guardian (2018) Retrieved 16 May 2018, from https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/nov/14/manus-island-refugee-new-zealand-australia-crisis

The popular source website consists of the article mentioned earlier and a series of other articles that discuss the refugee crisis in Australia and Newzealand. The article also dwells on the role of different aspects of society such as the media, politics and refugee-related problems. The article also dwells on a developing conflict case Australia fails to accept the Newzealand offer of settling an agreed number of refugees which is required by the United Nations. The article vividly explains the deteriorating conditions of the waiting for asylum. The basic concepts of the article focus on how much the refugees suffer before they can go back home or get asylum in a host country. The article provides a strong and reliable source for my final essay considering it comes from a reputable company. In the same context, it is not biased and lays the facts as they are.

Five visual cues from the peer-reviewed, scholarly source that was not evident in the popular source.

The scholarly source had footnotes and a bibliography while the popular source did not credit the source of information. The scholarly source was written by two collaborating experts, unlike the popular source which is written by one reporter who puts together several pieces. The scholarly source is based on research and statistical reference evidenced by the citations while the popular source is based on approximates of the statistics. Lastly, the scholarly source was composed of mainly test and a few illustrations while the popular source has several adverts and pop-up messages.

References

Lopresti, J. W., & Mumford, K. J. (2016). Who Benefits from a Minimum Wage Increase?. ILR Review, 69(5), 1171-1190.

Roy, E. (2017). Manus Island: New Zealand urged to bypass Australia to resolve refugee crisis. The Guardian. Retrieved 16 May 2018, from https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/nov/14/manus-island-refugee-new-zealand-australia-crisis