What is a Scholarly Journal? A Popular Magazine?
A Trade Journal?

Generally your professors will require that your research use articles from scholarly journals. Many indexes (especially the online databases) can contain references to scholarly journals, popular magazines, newspapers, and trade journals. How can you tell the difference? The features of different types of periodicals are listed below. If in doubt, ask your instructor or a librarian.

Types of Periodicals
	Scholarly Journals	Popular Magazines	Newspapers	Trade and Industry Journals
Examples	Journal of Educational Research American Historical Review Social Psychology Quarterly BioScience	Time Newsweek National Review Atlantic	New York Times Wall Street Journal Mobile Register Christian Science Monitor	Advertising Age RN Computer World HRMagazine Chronicle of Higher Education
Value and Uses	Reports of original research In-depth analysis of topics Refereed or peer-reviewed Intended for academic audience Lengthy articles Academic level book reviews	Current events/hot topics Commentaries on social/political issues Shorter articles Designed to attract broad segment of population Primary source for analysis of popular culture Book reviews	News stories Local and regional focus Editorials Primary source for information on events	Current trends, news, products in a field Provide information of use to a particular industry Statistics, forecasts Organization, company information Book and product reviews
Authors	Researchers Academics Professors Scholars	Generally journalists Freelance writers Sometimes academics	Journalists	Practitioners in the field Journalists with subject expertise
Sources	Extensive documentation Footnotes Bibliographies Usually signed	Occasionally cite sources in text	Information attributed to a source, scant documentation	Occasionally cite sources in text
Language	Specialized language of discipline More complex writing style Title words like journal, quarterly, review	Non-technical language Easy to understand	Non-technical language Written for general audiences	Written for practitioners Can use jargon and technical language extensively
Graphics	Charts Formulas Graphs Serious appearance Few advertisements	Many graphics Photos Full-page advertisements Bright, attractive covers	Pictures Charts Many advertisements	Photographs Graphs Charts Tables Illustrations Targeted advertising
Publisher	Universities Scholarly presses Academic/research organizations Published monthly, quarterly, semi-annually, or annually	Commercial publishers Usually published weekly or monthly	Commercial publishers Professional or trade associations Frequency varies	Commercial publishers Daily or weekly

Scholarly Journal Examples
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Popular Magazine Examples
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Trade Journal Examples
(Click to view & compare)

What is a Scholarly Journal? A Popular Magazine? A Trade Journal?

What is a Scholarly Journal? A Popular Magazine?
A Trade Journal?