Skip to Main Content

ART 100W

Art 100W - art writing

Scholarly, Trade, and Popular Sources

Key Things to Determine Journal Type

Image from Susan Slaga-Metivier's research guide at Central Connecticut State University

Criteria Scholarly Journal Trade Journal Popular Magazine
Example Covers

Hypatia: A Journal of Feminist Philosophy

American Libraries

Time

Examples

American Journal of Psychology

Journal of the American Medical Association

American History Review Quarterly

Journal of Food Science and Technology   

Advertising Age

Education Week

Supply and Demand Chain Executive

American Libraries

Psychology Today

Newsweek

National Geographic

Time

Life

Authors

Authors are scholars writing about their own research. They are usually affiliated with a college, university, or research institute and that affiliation will be stated. Unpaid.

Author is usually a professional in the field. Staff writers, industry specialists, or vendor representatives. Paid. Author is frequently a journalist, staff writer, or freelance writer. May or may not have subject expertise. Paid.
Audience

Scholars, researchers, and students.

Professionals in the field; the interested non-specialist. General public; the interested non-specialist.
Content

In-depth, primary account of original findings written by the researcher(s) or reviews of original research; very specific information, with the goal of scholarly communication.

Current news, trends and products in a specific industry; practical information for professionals working in the field or industry. Secondary discussion of someone else's research; may include personal narrative or opinion; general information, purpose is to entertain or inform.
References/Works Cited

Required. Quotes and facts are verifiable.

Occasional brief bibliographies, but not required. Rare. Little, if any, information about source materials is given.
Editorial Review Journal editorial board and peer reviewers. Unpaid. Professional editors. No peer review. Paid.

Professional editors. No peer review. Paid.

Acknowledgements: Table adapted from La Loria Konata's Scholarly, Trade, and Popular Sources from Georgia State University, and the Scholarly, Trade, and Popular Publications research guide from Ithaca College Library.

 

Peer-reviewed and refereed are synonyms for the same process. Articles in peer-reviewed journals are reviewed by a group of the writer's peers (other academics in their field) before the articles are published. You can find out if a journal (and its articles) is peer-reviewed by searching for the journal title in Ulrich's Periodicals Directory.

 

Enter the journal title and click the search button.

Ulrichs Web Search

 

In the search results, look for the referee jersey Grid Referree Jersey Icon icon. Remember: "refereed" and "peer-reviewed" are often used interchangeably.

Ulrichs Web Search Results

 

Alternatively, click on the journal title to see the full record. If it says Refereed Yes, then you know the journal (and the articles published in it) are refereed/peer-reviewed.

Ulrichs Web Title Details

 

Acknowledgements: UlrichsWeb search instructions adapted from the Understanding Peer-Review research guide from the University of Toronto Scarborough Library.

What is a Scholarly Article?

Evaluation Criteria

This handout from CSU Chico covers the major criteria used to evaluate information: currency, relevance, authority, accuracy, and purpose.