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Information Literacy, Level Two

Scholarly journals vs. popular magazines

Scholarly journals vs. popular magazines
 

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

 

What does "Peer review" mean?

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.