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Popular
literature : socializing knowledge
newspapers | magazines | general audience books | free web sites | broadcasting services
Description:
After research has been published in scholarly journals it often catches
the interests of the general public either because it relates to an important
issue being discussed widely or has potentially significant social impacts
for the general audience.
Sometimes researchers customize an account of their research in a way that appeals
to a general reader or publish articles without all the details of methodology
or data included in the scholarly article. News reporters also may write
about the research in newspapers and other general publications using
the original report or scientific article as a source. While the reporters
may be knowledgeable about the scientific topics, and editors will examine
the articles for quality, these articles usually have not been ‘peer
reviewed’, and, therefore, cannot be considered authoritative sources for research data. As long as any biases of the author or publisher are known,
these more popular articles can be very useful for the non-specialist
reader or student. They will also typically include enough information about the original research article to assist their readers in locating it and gaining access to it.
Types of popular Sociology literature
Newspapers
Local,
regional, or national publications, typically published at least once
daily, containing reports of current events and factual stories of interest
to a specific reader community. These stories don't always focus on aspects
of the research that scholars and professionals find most significant,
but on those likely to be of greatest interest, or appeal, to the general
readers of the publication.
Magazines
General
interest periodicals, typically published weekly or bi-weekly, for general readers or those with non-professional, personal interests. Most research
reaches the notice of these publications only when it has news interest
or significant social impact.
General audience
books
Books typically published by commercial publishing houses for
a general, or non-specialized, audience. The most academic of these will
attempt to communicate significant research into terms with which a general
audience educated at an undergraduate or even high school level might
be familiar and comfortable. These books also tend to provide overviews
or summaries of significant sociological analysis, rather than communicating
new or unique scholarship (see also text books under summary
literature.)
Free Internet sites
An Internet site can be "published" by anyone
with access to a host computer and a network connection. This
technology is used by individuals, commercial companies, nonprofit organizations,
advocates and lobbyists, hate groups, educational institutions, government
agencies, collectors, chatters, and "all the ships at sea."
Broadcasting services
Television and radio stations, both analog and virtual, provide
audio and/or video information for their audiences. The Internet often streams
both of these media into a single convergent channel.
| STRENGTHS——— | Excellent sources for popular perspectives on any issue or event. Provides opportunities for truly democratic information-seeking and -communicating practice, listening to voices across cultural, national, linguistic, socioeconomic, intellectual, and gender spectra.
|
| CONSIDERATIONS— | Lacks the authority of peer-review. Content selected for its appeal to audience, rather than its credibility or basis in fact and research. Requires advanced understanding of credentials, authority, and appropriateness in evaluating relevance and quality of information sources |
Selected resources for finding popular literature
University of
Washington Libraries Catalog
The complete collection of the University Libraries' across 3 campuses.
Special note should be paid to the option of searching the Summit catalog,
a combined catalog of 31 colleges and universities in Washington and Oregon,
extending the on-site collection by hundreds of thousands of titles --
books, periodicals, and other materials.
OCLC WorldCat 
Consists of
catalog records for material owned by thousands of libraries around the
world.
Search Bowker's Book in Print >>
An index of books,
audios, and videos available from U.S. publishers; database on publishers,
distributors, wholesalers, and book agents; full-text reviews; and inventory
data from wholesalers
Searching help >> Research 101 >>
Use the RefWorks to build your own bibliography of popular Sociology literature >>