Peer-Reviewed Literature Versus Popular Press Essay

The purpose of peer-reviewed literature is to present original reports, research, or reviews, and evaluate the material that scholars have already published (â€Å"Scholarly Vs Popular Press,† 2005). Peer review refers to a process that screens the writings of scholars before they can be published. Review panels, comprising other scholars and researchers, are responsible for evaluating the already published material with respect to its significance in addition to methodology. Although the published research finds may or may not be true, peer-reviewed literature is generally considered â€Å"authoritative evidence for a claim† which is validated once the research has been analyzed in depth and its findings have been applied as well as reexamined in a variety of contexts or by the use of different theoretical models (â€Å"Peer-reviewed literature†). Lee Shulman, the President of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, explains that the essentiality of scholarly literature is that it can be â€Å"cited, refuted, built upon, and shared (â€Å"Peer-reviewed literature). † Hence, peer-reviewed literature is considered more reliable than popular press, the purpose of which may be simply to present articles that entertain, inform, or market goods and services. Popular press may contain literature on current events or myriad popular interests (â€Å"Scholarly†). Given that the articles published in the popular press are not peer-reviewed, they may or may not be reliable. They are definitely not considered scholarly, seeing that they cannot be refuted. According to a scientific study, popular press coverage of a health problem known as the chronic fatigue syndrome has magnified and even distorted the divisions within the research community on the subject of the chronic fatigue syndrome (MacLean & Wessely, 1994). It is clear, therefore, that popular press cannot be trusted to present valid information.