Popular Magazines & Newspapers |
Scholarly Journals | |
---|---|---|
Audience |
General public |
Professionals within a field Scholars |
Articles written By |
Journalists Reporters Almost anyone |
Professionals within a field Scholars Articles usually indicate author affiliations (such as universities or research centers) |
Content |
News Non-technical language |
In-depth research Technical language Research reports Charts, graphs, or equations Bibliographies References |
Appearance |
Consumer advertising Glossy photos |
Dense text Few ads (specialized) |
Publication schedule |
Weekly Daily
Issues usually identified by day/month/year |
Monthly Quarterly Biannually Issues usually identified by volume and/or issue number |
Can be useful for: |
Broad overview of complex issues. Popular perspective on any issue. Finding out what's being written about a subject generally. |
Current Research Checking accuracy data or statistics |
Other factors |
Primary sources for popular culture or public opinion; usually used as secondary sources |
Peer reviewed Abstracts or summaries often provided before each article. Primary source for lab or field research; secondary sources for literary criticism. |
Examples |
Examples include Time, U.S. News & World Report, National Geographic, and the New York Times |
Examples include American Journal of Sociology, Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA); the word journal is usually in the title |
A researcher writes an article and before it can be published in a scholarly journal, it needs to be sent to the researcher's peers (meaning other researchers and experts in the field) to be looked over and critiqued. This peer review process makes sure that the article meets certain standards. Peer reviewed, or refereed, journals are scholarly journals that only publish articles that have gone through this review process.
Carlyle Campbell Library
Meredith College
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Raleigh, NC 27607
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