This page will give you some guidance as to whether an article is from a popular magazine or scholarly journal. Note that magazines, journals and newspapers are all a type of “periodical” (i.e. they are published at regular intervals such as weekly, monthly, etc.)
Check this document for tips on evaluating scholarly books:
| Scholarly/Peer Reviewed | Popular | Trade | |
| Author |
Articles written by experts in the field Authors are often affiliated with universities, research institutes or government bodies |
Articles written by professional writers or journalists, not experts in the field |
Articles are written by people with knowledge of the industry Authors are often affiliated with a particular company or industry association |
| Citations | Articles include references (reference list/footnotes) | Rarely contain references. May contain links | Articles sometimes include references |
| Purpose | Communicates research information to scholars or researchers | Purpose is to entertain & inform the general public | Purpose is to communicate amongst people in the industry |
| Reviewed or edited | Peer reviewed articles are reviewed by subject experts (peers) before publication; not all scholarly articles are peer reviewed |
Might be edited for grammar or punctuation, but not necessarily fact checked Little specialized vocabulary is needed to understand the articles |
Some articles are peer reviewed Specialized knowledge may be needed to understand the articles |
| Images |
Tables, graphs, or charts add information, are not just for entertainment Little or no advertisements |
Colourful, eye-catching covers Lots of photos and advertisements |
May have glossy covers Photos and advertisements aimed at the specific industry |
| Publisher | Usually published by a university, institution, association or society | Usually published by a commercial publisher or business | Usually published by a trade or professional group |
|
Examples: Fire Technology Journal of Forensic Identification Prehospital & Disaster Medicine |
Examples: Maclean’s National Geographic Sport’s Illustrated |
Examples: Advanced Rescue Technology Firehouse The Police Marksman |
*If this chart does not display properly on a mobile device, please rotate to landscape layout. |