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English I Articles for Discussion

General vs. Academic Sources

Skim each article and look at the information about the article that surrounds the text. What can you determine about the author, publisher, and intended audience?

Source Types Used in Activity

Source Type	Intended Audience	Type of Information	Purpose	Examples
Encyclopedia/Reference source	general audience with little or no prior knowledge of topic	widely accepted factual information	to educate readers new to a topic; to provide overview and background information	Wikipedia Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy How Stuff Works
News/Magazine article	general audience with no or little prior knowledge of the topic	information and opinions about popular topics, current events, and social issues short articles are on a surface level; longer articles may go more in-depth or cover a wide variety of perspectives on the topic	to inform readers about current events and issues to potentially persuade an audience that has a particular interest in the topic or subject area to provide an overview of a broad but current topic	Wall Street Journal New York Times Time Psychology Today
Academic Book or eBook	general or academic audience, depending on the complexity of the book; individuals who have a particular interest in the topic	depending on the book, information may be written for novices or people who are new to the topic; vocabulary will be defined and main concepts will be fully explained more advanced academic books intended for other scholars will use more sophisticated language and specialized vocabulary; ideas will be explored in depth and existing research will be referenced; new research or ideas may be presented in full detail and connected to existing research or theory	to cover a broad topic comprehensively or to delve into finer details of a complex topic that can only be addressed in a lengthy work	The American Dream, Revisited : Ordinary People, Extraordinary Results Military Deployment and its Consequences for Families
Scholarly/Peer Reviewed Journal Article	academic audience of scholars and experts in a field	articles written by scholars for other scholars often on a very narrow topic articles are often peer-reviewed, or reviewed by other experts in the field for quality, originality, and value to the scholarly conversation on the topic	to share the results of a research study or in-depth analysis of an issue with other scholars to participate in a scholarly conversation about a topic of research interest to the author	Journal of Applied Research in the Community College Journal of Child & Family Studies