topic 2 DQ 1 Response

Dawn Macfarlane

The differences between a scholarly article and a non-scholarly article have to do with the expertise and credentials of the author on the subject and whether the article is published in a peer-reviewed forum (Mailander, 2022).  

For example, the journal article, “I feel like grad school is a pretty big decision”: exploring vocational anticipatory socialization through messages about pursuing graduate education” (Apker et al., 2025), is a scholarly article because it is written by academic experts on the subject and published in a peer-reviewed, academic journal within the GCU library. My research found that one of the authors of this writing, Julie Apker, is a professor of communications at the University of Michigan (WMU 2025), which qualifies her as an academic expert. The article was published in Communication Quarterly, which is a peer-reviewed, scholarly, academic journal. 

Conversely, the article, “Mom changes the locks after adult son trashes her home and abandons her cats” (Vega A, 2025), is not a scholarly article because it is published in an online magazine, which is an entertainment publication and not peer-reviewed or written by an expert on the subject. Furthermore, there are no methods, discussions, academic citations, or references given to support her writing. 

References 

Apker, J., Abendschein, B., & Kaplan, H. A. (2025). “I feel like grad school is a pretty big decision”: exploring vocational anticipatory socialization through messages about pursuing graduate education. Communication Quarterly, 73(2), 216–238. https://doi-org.lopes.idm.oclc.org/10.1080/01463373.2025.2455591  

Mailander, N. (2022). Academic research. In A. DiVincenzo (Ed.). Mastering graduate studies (2nd ed., p 74). Grand Canyon University. 

Vega, A., (2025, December 29). Mom changes locks after adult son trashes her home and abandons her cats. People Magazine https://people.com/mother-changes-locks-after-adult-son-leaves-her-house-in-disarray-11876457 

Western Michigan University 2025. https://wmich.edu/communication/directory/apker