Skip to Main Content

CHEM 356: Topics in Biological Chemistry (HC) Fall 2025

Chemistry 356: Topics in Biological Chemistry (Greene)

Popular Literature Versus Scholarly Literature

  Popular Scholarly
Examples Magazines & newspapers (The Atlantic, NYT); websites, blogs Academic journals (Cell, Nature) & some books
Author Staff writer; journalist Expert in the field; known credentials
Audience General public Scholars, researchers
Language Little technical language or subject-specific jargon Uses technical language and subject-specific jargon
Coverage Broad topics; shallow coverage; shorter length Narrow topics; in-depth coverage; longer length
Documentation Usually no bibliography Bibliography present
Peer-reviewed? No Usually

Primary Literature Versus Review Literature

Primary literature

  • Reports on a study or original research done by the authors of the article. 
  • Contains telltale sections: Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion 

Review literature

  • Summarizes previously reported findings rather than presenting original research.
  • Often pulls together the findings of multiple studies to give broader view of a given topic area.

Visual Representation