Blue Ridge Community College Houff Library

Scholarly v. Popular Articles

Many instructors at the college level demand that all or most of the periodical articles you use in writing a research paper come from scholarly journals. To help distinguish scholarly journals from other periodicals, some characteristics of scholarly journals are listed here:

What is a Scholarly Journal?

ª Scholarly journals generally have a sober, serious look.

ª They often contain many graphs and tables, but few glossy pages or exciting photographs.

ª Scholarly journals always cite their sources in the form of footnotes or bibliographies.

ª Articles are written by a scholar in the field or by someone who has done research in the field.

ª The author's name appears at the beginning or the end of the article.

ª The language of scholarly journals is that of the discipline covered. It assumes some scholarly background on the part of the reader.

ª The main purpose of a scholarly journal is to report on original research in order to make such information available to the rest of the scholarly world.

Examples: JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association, Psychological Bulletin, Journal of Marriage and the Family, Sex Roles: A Journal of Research, Journal of Educational Research

What is a Popular Magazine?

ª Articles are short and written to inform or entertain the general public

ª Illustrated with glossy or color photographs

ª Articles are seldom footnoted and the source for information is seldom given

ª Authors are usually on the staff of the magazine or are freelance writers

ª Advertisements are aimed at the general public

ª Available for public purchase (in sores, newsstands, etc.)

Examples: Ladies Home Journal, Newsweek, Sports Illustrated, Psychology Today, Vogue

Periodicals that are not Scholarly Journals:

News magazines like Time, Newsweek, and U.S. News and World Report. While these publications can be of great assistance in providing an introduction to a current topic, they don't provide the same analysis as scholarly journals. Articles are not usually written by scholars in the field and are aimed at a more general audience than are articles in scholarly journals.

Opinion magazines such as New Republic, National Review, or Nation. These magazines are aimed at an educated audience, but without assuming particular scholarly background. They comment on current events and offer a particular viewpoint on world affairs, politics, and cultural matters. They may be useful in writing a research paper if opinions on a particular issue are needed.

Popular magazines like Sports Illustrated, Health, Vogue, People, Reader's Digest, or Family Circle. Generally, academic libraries do not carry as many of these titles as public libraries do. Popular magazines, while attractive and entertaining, do not report on original research or cite sources, and are not the kind of source to cite in the bibliography of an academic paper.

Trade journals such as Beverage World, Automotive News, and Progressive Grocer. These magazines are industry-specific, designed to update and inform the reader on current trends in an industry. They may, in some circumstances, be very useful in writing a research paper, but are not considered to be scholarly journals. An example of usefulness in writing a research paper is that they will be an excellent source of statistics in a particular industry.