Professors often suggest that students include articles from scholarly, refereed, or peer-reviewed journals as resources for their research papers. These articles are authored by experts in their fields and reviewed by peers before getting accepted for publication. See below for a chart to help you distinguish between the three main types of periodicals.
| Popular Magazine | Scholarly Journal | Trade Journal | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Examples |  |
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| Appearance | Highly visual, lots of advertising and photos | Sober design, little advertising, mostly text with some graphs and tables | Visual; some advertising related to the field, photos |
| Audience | General readership | Students, researchers, scholars, specialists in a particular subject | Members of a particular trade, profession or industry |
| Content | Popular magazines contain feature stories, reviews, and editorials, and may report research findings as news. | Scholarly journals contain original research, theoretical issues, and new developments in the subject discipline. | Trade and professional journals contain news, trends, technical and practical aspects of the trade, profession or industry. |
| Articles | Are meant to entertain and inform | Present the results of original research performed by the authors; often include a review of existing literature on the topic | May present industry news and/or original research |
| Use popular language, geared toward the average reader | Include specialized vocabulary of a subject discipline | Include specialized vocabulary of a trade, profession or industry | |
| Written by staff writers (not always named), or freelance writers | Written by subject specialists identified by name, with degrees and academic affiliation usually given | Written by staff writers and freelancers, usually professionals in the field | |
| Generally short in length (1-10 pages) | Generally medium-length to long (5-20 pages or more) | Generally short to medium-length (1-20 pages) | |
| Rarely include references or footnotes | Meticulously documented; extensive references and/or footnotes | May contain a few references or footnotes | |
| Evaluated by editorial staff, but may not be reviewed by experts in the field | Most often peer-reviewed by other authorities in the field to validate findings | Evaluated by editorial staff that may include experts in the field, but not peer-reviewed |
Please note that not all articles found in magazines, or journals, will contain the noted characteristics. Use careful judgement in determining if an article in a scholarly journal actually presents in-depth, original research, or if an article in a magazine or trade journal goes beyond presenting news and current trends.