Scholarly Journals vs Popular and Trade Magazines

 

Periodicals are magazines, journals and newspapers issued at regular intervals intended to continue indefinitely.

                                                                                                               

 
Scholarly Journals
Popular Magazines
Trade Magazines
Audience
Scholars and students
General public
 People working in a profession or industry
Purpose

Report original research/experimentation

Content related to focused discipline

 Provide general information, informs, entertain, advertise products. Provide general information for members of that profession, keeping them up-to-date on trends, research, e.g. that affect their work.

 

 

Appearance

Usually, contains graphs or charts etc.

Articles are lengthy & include abstracts

 

Few color graphics, photographs or advertising

Glossy paper, advertisements, heavily illustrated-attractive in appearance.

Glossy paper, advertisements, heavily illustrated-attractive in appearance

Short articles with broader overviews of topics

 

Language

Articles require

specialized knowledge or vocabulary to be understood

 Require no specialized knowledge or vocabulary to be understood  

Documentation

 Sources cited in footnotes or bibliography Sources rarely cited. Some sources sited in bibliographies

Authors

 Scholars, experts in the field, a professional association or university Freelance writers, reporters, feature editors or no author is listed Members of the profession, feature editors, reporters

 

Authority

 Editorial Board members often listed in the first pages of a journal issue    

Peer-review/

Referee  Process
 Articles reviewed and critically evaluated by a group of experts in the field before  articles are  published in scholarly journals Articles not evaluated by experts, but by editors or staff  

Frequency

 Published quarterly or twice a year Published, daily, weekly or monthly Published weekly or monthly
       

 

 

Sample Sources
  • The Journal of American Medical Association
  • Journal of Negro History
  • Social Work
  • Newsweek
  • Prevention
  • Psychology Today
  • Women's Wear Daily
  • Computer World
  • Library Journal
       

 

Sample Databases
  • America: History and Life
  • PsycInfo

 
  • Academic Search Premier
  • Expanded Academic ASAP

 
  • ABI Inform Complete

 

 

 

          Consult the following  resources in the George T Potter for further explanations:

  • Ulriches’ International Periodicals Directory (an online Electronic Resource)
  • Magazines for Libraries (located at the library's Ready Reference Shelf)

     

Adapted from Arizona State University http://www.asu.edu/research/tutorials, J. Willard Marriot Library,

University of Utah http://www.lib.utah.edu/ResGuides and

University of Texas at San Anton

Shirley Knight, Reference Librarian, Library Liaison, First Year Seminar

revised March 2007

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

          Consult the following resources in the George T. Pottler Library for further explanations:

          

 

 

Adapted from the Arizona State University http://www.asu.edu/research/tutorials,

University of Texas at San Antonio http://www.lib.utsa.edu/Research/Subject &

University of Utah, J. Willard Marriot Library http://www.lib.utah.edu/ResGuides

Shirley Knight, Reference Librarian, sknight@ramapo.edu, August 2005, revised March 2007

Library Liaison, George T. Potter Library,Ramapo College of New Jersery,505 Ramapo Valley Road

Mahwah, New Jersey 07430