Popular or scholarly? Journal or magazine? What are the different types of articles I could find?
| Scholarly Journals | Trade Journals | Popular Magazines | Newspapers | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Examples |
The Chaucer Review
|
Advertising Age
|
Psychology Today
|
Chicago Tribune
|
| Content | Original research; in-depth analysis of issues in the field. Articles often include abstract, method, discussion, tables, conclusion, and references. | Current news, trends, or products in an industry or professional organization; statistics, forecasts, employment and career information | Current events and news; general information with purpose to entertain or inform; analysis of popular culture; secondary account of someone else's research that may include opinion | Current events and news that may be local, regional, national or international; ads, editorials, speeches; primary source for information on events |
| Language | Academic, technical jargon that uses the language of the discipline. Requires some level of expertise. | Specialized jargon or terminology of the field. Written for practitioners/professionals. | Easily understandable, non-technical language. Written for the layperson. | Written for a general audience. Understandable language. |
| Authors | Researchers, scholars, professors, etc. | Practitioners in the field, industry experts, journalists with subject expertise. | Journalists or staff writers | Journalists or staff writers |
| References | References, footnotes or bibliographies are always includes | References in text or short bibliographies are occasionally included | References are rarely included | Rarely cite sources in full |
| Review Process | Journal's editorial board, or if peer-reviewed, external scholars in the same field | Reviewed by editor with the publisher | Review by section editor | Review of section editor or editorial board |
| Publishers | Universities, scholarly presses, or academic organizations | Commercial publishers or trade and professional organizations | Commercial publishers | Commercial publishers |
| Examples Databases | Academic Search Complete, JSTOR, PsycINFO | ABI Inform, Business Source Complete, ERIC | Academic Search Complete | NewsBank, US Newsstream, Access World News |
Adapted from Northwestern University Libraries.
