The category for journals and magazines is called: Periodicals. A Periodical is a term used to describe any publication that is published multiple times (periodically). Periodicals include sources such as popular magazines, scholarly journals, and newspapers.
It is important to understand the difference between a popular and a scholarly periodical. When you are doing research, most of your sources should be scholarly.
Often popular periodicals are called magazines, and scholarly periodicals are called journals. Many times it will be acceptable to use some popular material, but research papers should not be based solely on popular literature.
| Criteria | Popular Magazine | Trade Journal | Scholarly Journal |
| Example |
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| Content | Secondary discussion of someone else's research; may include personal narrative or opinion; general information, purpose is to entertain or inform. | Current news, trends and products in a specific industry; practical information for professionals working in the field or industry. | In-depth, primary account of original findings written by the researcher(s); very specific information, with the goal of scholarly communication. |
| Author | Author is frequently a journalist paid to write articles, may or may not have subject expertise. | Author is usually a professional in the field, sometimes a journalist with subject expertise. | Author's credentials are provided; usually a scholar or specialist with subject expertise. |
| Audience | General public; the interested non-specialist. | Professionals in the field; the interested non-specialist. | Scholars, researchers, and students. |
| Language | Vocabulary in general usage; easily understandable to most readers. | Specialized terminology or jargon of the field, but not as technical as a scholarly journal. | Specialized terminology or jargon of the field; requires expertise in subject area. |
| Graphics | Graphs, charts and tables; lots of glossy advertisements and photographs. | Photographs; some graphics and charts; advertisements targeted to professionals in the field. | Graphs, charts, and tables; very few advertisements and photographs. |
| Layout & Organization | Informal; may include non-standard formatting. May not present supporting evidence or a conclusion. | Informal; articles organized like a journal or a newsletter. Evidence drawn from personal experience or common knowledge. | Structured; includes the article abstract, goals and objectives, methodology, results (evidence), discussion, conclusion, and bibliography. |
| Accountability | Articles are evaluated by editorial staff, not experts in the field; edited for format and style. | Articles are evaluated by editorial staff who may be experts in the field, not peer-reviewed*; edited for format and style. | Articles are evaluated by peer-reviewers* or referees who are experts in the field; edited for content, format, and style. |
| References | Rare. Little, if any, information about source materials is given. | Occasional brief bibliographies, but not required. | Required. Quotes and facts are verifiable. |
| Paging | Each issue begins with page 1. | Each issue generally begins with page 1. | Page numbers are generally consecutive throughout the volume. |
Based on Scholarly vs. Popular Materials by Amy VanScoy, NCSU Library
A peer reviewed journal article is an article that has been reviewed and chosen for publication by the author's professional peers. These peers are scholars in the field, who sit on the editorial board of a journal which is usually published by a professional organization or a university press. Peer reviewed articles can also be known as scholarly or refereed articles.
One database that the Library has is Lexis-Nexis Academic, an excellent legal and business database. Part of the content in Lexis-Nexis includes a periodical known as the law review.
A law review is a student run scholarly journal that publishes articles written by legal professionals, judges, etc.
Articles submitted to a law review are reviewed by law students using a scholarly process. The process does NOT include a panel of the author's professional peers, therefore the articles in a law review, while often excellent and useful, are not peer reviewed journal articles.
One other source that you might find in searching a database is a law review article.
A law review is a student run scholarly journal that publishes articles written by legal professionals, judges, etc.
Articles submitted to a law review are reviewed by law students using a scholarly process. The process does NOT include a panel of the author's professional peers, therefore the articles in a law review, while often excellent and useful, are not peer reviewed journals articles.
