Scholarly Journals vs. Popular Magazines and Newspapers
To find scholarly journal articles for your research paper, you need to know some features that distinguish scholarly articles from magazine or newspaper articles.
Scholarly Journals |
|
Popular Magazines & Newspapers |
Experts in a field
Researchers
Scholars or Professors |
Who writes them? |
Reporters or Journalists
Staff writers
Free-lance writers |
Researchers and Experts
Scholars (including students)
People with knowledge of the topic |
Who reads them? |
General public
People who do not have in-depth knowledge of the topic |
"Serious" looking - mostly text, some charts, graphs, or tables
Fewer advertisements or illustrations
Generally longer articles |
What do they look like? |
Glossy, color photographs
Commercial advertisements
Easy-to-read or eye-catching layout |
Original research or studies
In-depth analysis of a specific subject
Critical analysis (criticism) |
What's in them? |
Entertainment and popular culture
Current events and news
Opinion pieces or articles with an emotional slant |
A panel of experts in the field
This is called "peer-review" - a group of the author's "peers" evaluates it |
Who evaluates them? |
Staff editors and publishers |
Finding current research about a very specific aspect of your topic
Learning what the experts say about your topic and using it to support your thesis |
What should I use them for? |
Broad overviews of current topics
Information about popular culture
Introduction to an unfamiliar topic |