Below are some identifying features of popular and scholarly periodicals. Note that sources occur on a popular/scholarly continuum. Some sources are clearly popular or scholarly while others have mixed features. Determining a source's popular or scholarly orientation will help you evaluate its appropriateness for your research purpose. For example, using some popular sources may work for an introductory undergraduate project, while all scholarly sources may be required for more advanced work, especially in a student's major field of study.
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Popular Periodicals--Magazines |
Scholarly Periodicals---Academic Journals |
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Written by journalists |
Written by experts in their field |
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Reviewed by an editorial staff |
Often reviewed by peers within the discipline |
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Purpose to inform, persuade, or entertain |
Purpose to present research findings, in-depth studies |
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General audience |
More educated or professional audience |
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Language aimed at a general audience |
May use vocabulary specific to the field |
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Tone varies (serious, humorous, satirical, etc.) |
Tone serious |
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No bibliography or works cited |
Bibliography or works cited for articles |
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Contain many photographs, illustrations, drawings |
Few graphics, many charts and graphs |
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Extensive advertising |
Selective advertising |
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Articles usually short (1-5 pages) |
Articles usually longer |
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Examples: Time, Cosmopolitan, New Republic |
Examples: Journal of Psychology, Comparative Literature, Journal of Political Marketing |
Trade Journals provide practical information for professionals to help them keep up-to-date in their field.
Examples of trade journals:
Consult the library's Research 101 guide for more on information evaluation.
Consult the Lit Review 101 guide for more information on reading scholarly sources.
Certain journals publish peer-reviewed articles. Before the editors of the journal publish an article they send the article out to scholars in the subject area for review. The scholars examine the article to make sure it reflects solid research in the field. If these reviewers have reservations about the article the journal may not publish the article or may require the author to make changes. This thorough editorial process results in highly-regarded scholarship.
Note that the terms refereed and vetted are also used to describe articles that have undergone this process.
Some databases have a peer-reviewed limiter that will limit your results to articles from peer-reviewed journals. Caution: Make sure your source is a research article; you may retrieve other types of articles, such as editorials, that are not peer-reviewed.
A journal's Web site will often indicate if publication is peer-reviewed.
Use UlrichWeb.com, a database available from Briggs Library. Enter the journal's name in the search field. You'll see an icon resembling a referee's jersey by peer-reviewed or refereed publications.
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