Often your instructor will require "Scholarly" or "Peer-Reviewed" articles for your assignment. These are articles written for a college level audience and deal with topics in much greater detail than articles found in "Popular" magazines. The following general characteristics will help you determine whether or not an article is "Scholarly" or "Peer-Reviewed":
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Popular Magazine |
Scholarly/Peer-Reviewed
|
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Written for a general audience |
Written for a college level audience |
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Written by professional journalists who may or may not be experts on the topic written about |
Written by an expert or group of experts in a particular area of study |
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Usually content is reviewed by a single editor who may or may not be an expert on the topic |
Often reviewed by fellow experts to ensure quality of scholarship (Peer-Reviewed) |
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Author’s credentials may or may not be listed |
Author’s credentials are usually clearly listed |
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Rarely includes footnotes or citations |
Typically includes footnotes and/or cited references |
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Written at an 8th grade level |
Scholarly Language/Technical Jargon |
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Wide range of topics covered |
Narrow focus |
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Often contains advertisements and many images |
Typically no advertisements or photographs |
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Widely available at newsstands and bookstores |
Usually only available by subscription |
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Examples: Time, Newsweek, People, Rolling Stone |
Examples: American Journal of Political Science, Business History Review, Journal of American History, Journal of Applied Psychology |
When in doubt, it is always best to check with your instructor or a librarian.
Many databases allow you to limit your search to "Scholarly/Peer-Reviewed" Journals. Often this option can be found to the side of your search results or on the advanced search screen. Be on the lookout for this option when you are searching in databases!
Here is an example of the limit option from Academic Search Complete
