Popular Magazines vs Academic, scholarly, peer-reviewed journals
Popular Magazines vs. Scholarly Journals
In order to choose the best articles for your research, you will need to understand the difference between popular magazines and scholarly journals and be able to identify them.
| Popular | Scholarly* | |
| Writer | Staff writers and journalists | Scholars/researchers |
| Audience | General public | Scholars, including college students |
| Reviewed by | Editor | Editorial board made up of other scholars and researchers |
| Article style/purpose | Shorter articles written to entertain, inform or elicit an emotional response | Longer articles written in a formal, scholarly style to share facts and research with the academic community |
| Documentation | None | Footnotes/endnotes; bibliographies |
| Frequency | Usually published frequently (weekly or monthly) | Usually published less frequently (quarterly, semi-annually) |
| Advertisements | Numerous ads for a variety of products | If there are any ads, they are usually for scholarly products such as books |
| Illustrations | Usually numerous | Fewer, and often include charts and graphs to support research findings |
| Appearance | Usually glossy and larger in size | Usually smaller in size, thicker and with a plain cover |
| Examples |
Time , Psychology Today, Rolling Stone, New Yorker (magazines you may subscribe to or buy at a newsstand) |
Journal of Southern History , Annual Review of Psychology, American Literature, New England Journal of Medicine |
* Scholarly sources may also be referred to as academic, peer-reviewed or refereed.
Source: http://www.lib.utexas.edu/students/find/popularvscholarly.html
Examples of popular and scholarly resources
Popular:
- Will have ads
- Appeals to the general audience
- Often no list of references at end of articles
Scholarly or Peer-reviewed Journals:
- Often reports of original research
- Usually no ads
- Includes list of references at end of article
- Goes through a review process before publication
If you are searching Google for journal content, use Google Scholar!