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What is the difference between popular and scholarly sources?
Popular sources are typically written for a general audience. They are easy to read, have attention grabbing images and headlines, and are written to inform, entertain, and also make money! Scholarly articles are written to document and share research. They are written by scholars (experts in their field) for other experts, researchers and academics. Typically they are black & white documents and contain information like research methods, data, graphs and analysis and references. The author publishes the work not to sell copies for money, but rather for collaboration purposes and for prestige in their field.
What is peer review?
When scholars wish to publish articles in scholarly journals, they typically must submit their work for peer review. Their writing is read and evaluated by other experts in the field before it is approved and published. Most scholarly work that you will find in the library databases is peer-reviewed.