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How do I...?
Determine a Scholarly or Popular Source
The key difference between scholarly and popular magazine articles is the required peer review process for scholarly journal articles.
Peer review is a publishing process in academic fields. Before editors decide whether to accept an article for publication in a scholarly journal, they need to send this article to other researchers in this article's subject area to do a review. This process is called "peer review" because the author's peers (i.e. other scholars) decide if the article should be published.
Below are some of the characteristics of scholarly journals and popular magazines and newspapers.
| Type of Periodical | Scholarly Journal | Popular Magazine or Newspaper |
| Contents | Original Research In-Depth Analysis |
Current Events / Popular topics / Interviews Not original research by the author |
| Writing Level | Technical language Assumes college education |
Simple, elementary language Assumes only 8th grade education! |
| Authors | Researchers, Academics Experts in the subject they are writing about |
Reporters Not subject experts |
| Sources | Almost always has a list of Works Cited Extensive documentation |
Rarely documents sources Documentation vague (e.g. "A study was done...") |
| Published By | Scholarly societies, University Presses | Commercial publishers |
| Pictures and Paper | Few or no photographs Includes charts or tables Regular white paper |
Many photographs and pictures Glossy paper |
| Examples | Sociological Review Journal of Asian Studies Journal of Philosophy |
People Weekly Sports Illustrated New York Times Denver Post |
| Length | Tends to be longer | Tends to be shorter |
