After completing this tutorial a student will know how:

• Recognize the difference between a scholarly journal and a popular magazine
• Understand the terms scholarly, refereed, and peer reviewed as applied to journals
• Know when it is appropriate to use scholarly and popular materials

Journal publications are designed for different audiences and purposes. Journals may be divided into two categories, scholarly and popular. Scholarly journals are appropriate for academic research whereas popular magazines provide information for the general public.

Scholarly journals are usually published by academic presses, research institutions, or professional associations and have specific submission criteria. Articles submitted to scholarly publications are often reviewed by an independent panel of experts and are referred to as peer reviewed or refereed. Increasingly, general databases like Expanded Academic Index, Infotrac, and Wilson Omnifile allow the user to limit searches to peer reviewed articles or at least differentiate the popular from the scholarly resources in their databases.

Popular magazines often have a staff of writers hired to produce articles on timely, general interest topics. Articles are submitted to an editor who reviews the article for relevance to the magazine. Glossy photographs, provocative titles, and advertising are commonly found throughout each issue.

Here are the general differences between scholarly journals and popular magazines:

Scholarly articles may be located in multidisciplinary databases (e.g., Infotrac, Expanded Academic Index, and Wilson Omnifile). You may view the articles in the tab academic journals, or you may restrict your search to Peer Reviewed articles:

The first article, in the journal, Energy Policy, has the characteristics of a scholarly journal:

A list of references is located at the end of the article and the journal is published by Elsevier, an international scholarly science journal publisher.

Scholarly journal articles may also be identified by using scholarly subject databases. Here are a few examples of subject specific databases:

• PsycINFO (Psychology)
• Biological Abstracts
• Social Work Abstracts
• Arts and Humanities Citation Search
• ABI/Inform (Business)

There are over 300 general and subject specific databases available in the Metalib list of databases. They may be searched individually or grouped by category (e.g., business, psychology, biology).

Here are some related resources that you can use if you'd like to learn more about this particular topic.

• Peabody Library, Vanderbilt University Popular vs. Scholarly Periodicals Tutorial http://www.library.vanderbilt.edu/peabody/tutorials/scholarlyfree/
• John W. Hicks Undergraduate Library, Purdue University, Subject Guides. "What's the Difference? Journals and Magazines." http://www.lib.purdue.edu/ugrl/inst/difference.pdf
• University of Texas at San Antonio Libraries, Subject Guides. "Scholarly Journals vs. Magazine Articles." http://www.lib.utsa.edu/Research/Subject/scholarlyguide.html
• University of Washington Information Literacy Learning, The Basics. "Scholarly vs. Popular Communication" http://www.lib.washington.edu/uwill/research101/basic02.htm
• Quaratiello, Arlene R. The College Student's Research Companion. NY: Neal-Schuman Publishers, Inc., 2000.
• Virginia Commonwealth University Library. Getting Started with Your Research: Evaluate Your Resources. http://www.library.vcu.edu/jbc/ref/getstarted.html#evaluating
  
  
  

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