Skip to Main Content
library logo

Ask us!

The College Experience - STDV100

The Guide provides an outline of information covered in the Information Literacy Library session and includes links to resources covered.

Identifying Scholarly Articles

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

 

RVOneSearch

RVOneSearch allows you to do one search to find books, audiobooks, eBooks, films, scholarly journal articles, newspapers & magazine

RVOneSearch

RVOneSearch allows you to do one search to find books, audiobooks, eBooks, films, scholarly journal articles, newspapers & magazines. 

 
     
Limit Your Results:
 
 

Make sure to check off the "Peer Reviewed" box to select only articles from academic journals.