Brief video on how to find scholarly articles, from Cornell University.
General characteristics of scholarly journals and popular magazines
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Scholarly Journals |
Popular Magazines |
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Length |
Lengthy (5-50) pages |
Short (1-5) pages |
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Audience |
Intended for an academic, professional, or scholarly audience |
General, non-academic, non-specialized audience |
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Expertise |
Articles written by academics or researchers in the field |
Reporters or professional writers, rather than researchers |
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Bibliography |
Yes! A bibliography (references) allow the reader to consult the same material that the author used |
Not often. The reader cannot easily link to the original sources |
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Frequency |
Monthly, quarterly, or even once a year |
Published frequently (weekly, biweekly, or monthly) |
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Inclusions |
Publish reviews of the literature Graphs or tables Little or specialized advertising |
Photographs & illustrations Glossy look Extensive commercial advertising. |
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Subjects |
Confined to a single, specific aspect of a subject area (e.g., music theory, European political science, film studies, language development.) |
Variety of subject areas (Time, Newsweek) Or single subject area with the intent of informing or entertaining a general audience (Sports Illustrated) |
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Vocabulary |
Use technical or specialized vocabulary |
Use conversational language often written at a general education level |
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Peer-Review Process |
Articles are sent to authorities in a particular subject field that decide whether it is a credible piece of research |
No, magazine staff edits articles |