Identify Scholarly vs. Popular Articles
The terms, periodicals, serials, journals, and magazines can and often are used interchangeably. This does not mean they are all the same. Periodicals are publications that are printed; daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly or annually. Serials are publications intended to be published indefinitely into the future. Journals are generally held as being scholarly and authoritative, including references and citations. Magazines are referred to as being popular publications and having less credibility.
|
Scholarly Publication |
Popular Publication |
| Examples |  |
 |
Author
|
A professional or expert in the field. |
Journalist, student, popular author or maybe no author |
Audience |
Specialized audience, has a broad knowledge or is able to understand specialized vocabulary presented |
General public, or persons with basic vocabulary |
Advertising |
Few and highly specialized pertaining to the publications topic |
High amounts of advertising for a broad range of products |
Bibliography, Works Cited, Sources |
References listed at end of each article, contains footnotes or endnotes |
Rarely includes references or works cited |
Indexing |
Articles are listed in specialized databases and indexes |
Articles are listed in general databases and indexes |
Level of language |
Higher level of language, more scholarly and serious, vocabulary pertains and relates to discipline |
Simple, more broad language used to relate to a higher number of people, easier to understand |
Purpose |
Discuss and display research, findings, trends and information in a scholarly manner |
More general interest, current events and gossip |
Review Policy |
Peer reviewed. Editors are scholars in the field |
Editors or other magazine staff |
Examples |
Nature, |
Time, People, Sports Illustrated, New Yorker, Rolling Stone |
If you would like more information about a title or are not quite sure if the title you have found may be scholarly or not, ask a reference librarian for help or consult the book Magazines for Libraries (Call Number: Z 6941 .K2) . The current volume is located at the reference desk, other volumes can be found in the reference collection.
