Scholarly Journal v. Personal Magazine Articles

Scholarly Journal v. Popular Magazine Articles

How can you tell the difference between these two types of periodical articles?

Scholarly

Scholarly

Popular

Length

Longer articles, providing in-depth analysis of
topics

Shorter articles, providing broader overviews of
topics

Authorship

Author usually an expert or specialist in the
field, name and credentials always provided

Author usually a staff writer or a journalist,
name and credentials often not provided

Language/
Audience

Written in the jargon of the field for scholarly
readers (professors, researchers students)

Written in non-technical language
for anyone to understand

Format/
Structure

Article usually more structured, may include these
sections: abstract, literature review, methodology, results,
conclusion, bibliography

Articles do not necessarily follow
a specific format or structure

Special
Features

Illustrations that support the text, such as tables
of statistics, graphs, maps, or photographs

Illustrations with glossy or color photographs,
usually for advertising purposes

Editors

Articles usually reviewed and critically evaluated
by a board of experts in the field (refereed)

Articles are not evaluated by experts in the field,
but by editors on staff

Credits

A bibliography (works cited) and/or footnotes are
always provided to document research thoroughly

     A bibliography (work cited) is usually not provided,
     although names of reports or references may be
     mentioned in the text.