| Characteristics |
Scholarly
(peer reviewed or refereed) |
News, Opionion, or Trade / Industry |
Popular |
|
 |
 |
 |
| Appearance & Content |
- Has serious look
- Lots of text
- May contain graphs and charts, but few photos
- Plain cover, plain paper, mostly black / white graphics
- Page numbering is consecutive throughout each volume
|
- Cover depicts industrial setting or news item
- Has glossy paper, pictures and illustrations in color
- Each issue starts with page 1
- Trade magazines will have industry trends, new products or techniques, and organizational news
|
- Eye-catching cover, glossy paper
- Pictures and illustrations in color
- Each issue starts with page 1
- Secondary discussion of information from other sources
- May include personal narrative or opinion, general information
|
Authorship
|
- Researchers, scholars, experts, specialists
- Author's credentials and academic affiliation listed
- Frequently has co-authors
|
- Industry practitioners, insiders
- Journalists familiar with an industry
- In opinion and news, there are staff writers, scholars, and free-lance writers
- Author credentials sometimes provided
|
- Journalists, staff-writers, freelance authors
- Rarely author's credentials or affiliation
- Often no author provided
|
| Article Length |
- Lengthy, focusing on in-depth analysis
- Few, if any pictures, and fewer still in color
|
- Short to medium length, focusing on broader coverage
- Illustrated, with colorful graphs and photos
|
- Short to medium length, focusing on broader coverage
- Heavily illustrated, many photographs
|
| Article Structure |
Articles are usually structured with distinct sections with headings:abstract, literature review, methodology, results, conclusion, works cited. |
Journalistic format with a one-sentence "lead" that establishes the story, a few paragraphs that reiterate the story and add some detail, and a body that adds significantly more detail. |
- No structure to articles, evidence drawn from personal experience or common knowledge
- Many articles might read like a story and will not present evidence or a conclusion
|
| Language & Vocabulary |
- A highly specialized vocabulary
- Written in the jagon of the field for scholarly readers
|
- Plain English, but many references to names of businesses, executives, products, and processes
- Trade magazines may include some technical language
- Language appropriate for an educated readership and assumes a certain level of specialized knowledge
|
- Composed of normal, non-technical vocabulary that's easy to understand
- Lowest reading level possible (usually 3rd grade)
|
|
Documentation of sources -
Cited Sources
|
- Formal citations within the article (sometimes footnotes)
- Always a bibliography (or works cited) of sources used by the author(s)
|
- Citations take a general form ("experts say") or name people and their occupation and workplace
- Sometimes a bibliography, but they are not expected
|
- No bibliography, but sometimes contact information
|
| Advertisements |
None, or very minimal |
- More advertisements, but not for retail: usually for business-to-business services and products
- Many ads for products and services related to a particular trade or industry
|
- Numerous, often colorful advertisements for retail products
- Many ads for general consumer products and services
|
| Purpose |
- Provides well-sourced technical information to researchers and expert practitioners
- To inform, report, or make available original research or experimentation in a specific field or discipline and among experts in a field of research
|
- Provides practical business and industry news and information to workplace professionals
- Provides commentary on political or social issues, may contain speeches or interviews
|
- Designed to entertain or persuade readers with a variety of general interest topics in broad subject fields
- Geared to sell products and services through advertising
|
| Intended Audience |
Scholars, researchers, students, experts |
Industry practitioners, investors, business leaders, general interested public |
General readers, lay-people, non-experts |
| Editors / Publisher |
- Articles are usually reviewed and critically evaluated by a board of experts in the field (refereed)
- University presses, professional associations/societies, educational institutions
|
- Industry or trade associations will publish their periodicals and they are edited by the publication's editors
- News and opinion periodicals are produced by a commercial publisher for profit. They are edited by staff editors
|
Commercial publishers and staff editors |
|
Why Use it?
Use & Value
|
- Your professor requires it
- You want the most objective, rationally argued, evidence-supported information
- Your topic is sufficiently narrow that you can benefit from similarly narrowly-focused articles
- It is time to deepen your engagement with your major field
- Provides original research which may be theoretical, experimental or applied
- In depth analysis of topic
- Substantial book reviews
|
- To understand practical, business perspectives on a concept (i.e. how research is applied)
- To get industry-insider information not available in general news sources, current events in a particular field
- To learn background information on a topic
- To learn about trends in markets and industries, provides statistics and complex data
- In news & opinion periodicals, there will be commentary and viewpoints and BIAS
- News magazines sometimes produce speeches and interviews (first hand accounts)
|
- Primary source for popular culture
- Biography and interviews of contemporary figures
- To get information on currently breaking stories not available in other source types
- First hand accounts and viewpoints
- Some book reviews
- To understand the broad appeal of or conventional perspectives on a topic
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