Scholarly Journals VS. Popular MagazinesFrequently, instructors will specify that you may use only scholarly journals in researching a

paper. Scholarly journals and popular magazines have some distinguishing characteristics thatwill help you to recognize them.

i Audience

'• Articles•written by

Content

\ Appearance

Publicationschedule

Can be usefulfor:

! Other factors

Examples

Popular Magazines &Newspapers

| General public

I Journalists| Reportersj Almost anyone

| Newsi Non-technical language

I Consumer advertising(Glossy photos

Issues usually identified byday/month/year

Broad overview of complexissues.Popular perspective on anyissue.Finding out what's beingwritten about a subjectgenerally.

Primary sources for popularculture or public opinion study;usually used as secondarysources

Examples include Time, U.S.i News & World Report,i National Geographic, and thei New York Times

Scholarly Journals

Professionals within a fieldScholars

Professionals within a fieldScholarsArticles usually indicate authoraffiliations (such as universities orresearch centers)

In-depth researchTechnical languageResearch reportsCharts, graphs, or equationsBibliographiesReferences (endnotes and footnotes,often very helpful in finding moreinformation on a subject)Continuous pagination (first issue ofthe year starts at page 1, subsequentissues continue the page numberingfrom the previous issue)

Dense textFew ads (specialized)MonthlyQuarterlyBiannually

Issues usually identified by volumeand/or issue number

Current researchChecking accuracy of data or statistics

Peer ReviewedAbstracts or summaries often providedbefore each article.Primary sources for lab or fieldresearch; secondary sources forlite ra ry criticism.Examples include American Journal ofSociology, Journal of the AmericanMedical Association (JAMA) [the word'journal" is often in the title]

Very few scholarly journals are found full-textengines like Google, AIITheWeb,

on the Internet via commercial searchYahoo, MSN Search, etc.