Sociology: Articles

Scholarly journals (aka academic journals) publish articles by scholars and experts in their field and are intended for the academic community.  Many scholarly journals are also peer-reviewed (aka refereed), which means they have an editorial board with additional experts in the field who review all articles submitted for publication to ensure that they meet academic standards.

Popular journals are intended for the general public, and their journalists may have some knowledge of a field, but are usually not academic experts. Popular journals can be appropriate for some academic papers, but not all, so be sure to check with your professor.

How can you distinguish a scholarly journal from a popular journal?  Refer to the following chart, which highlights the differences between the two:

If you already have a citation, the title of journal, it's ISSN, or would prefer to browse journals by a particular subject, follow the steps below:

1. Click on the Journals tab from the library search bar
2. Choose from the following options in the drop-down menu to the left of the search box: Title begins with, title equals, title contains all words, or ISSN equals.
3. Enter all or part of the journal title and then select the SEARCH button. Make sure that you are entering the title of the journal, not the title of the article itself. 
4. Locate the correct title from the results list. 
5. Select the title with the dates that you need and choose the database name next to your preferred dates. 
6. You will be redirected to another screen where you can search for your article. 
7. If the journal or date you want is not available, order the article through interlibrary loan using the link below.