Scholarly journals (aka academic journals) publish articles by scholars and researchers 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. Examples of scholarly journals are American Journal of Archaeology and Journal of Abnormal Psychology. Some databases allow you to limit your results to Scholarly/Academic/Peer-Reviewed Journals (look for a check box on the database home page).
Popular journals are intended for the general public, and their journalists may have some knowledge of a field, but are usually not academic experts. Examples of popular journals are Scientific American and Psychology Today. 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:
|
|
Popular |
Scholarly |
|
Audience |
General Public |
Scholars/Experts/Students |
|
Authors |
Reporters |
Scholars/Experts |
|
Peer-Reviewed |
No |
Yes |
|
Color Pictures |
Many |
Few |
|
Advertisements |
Many |
Few |
|
Article Length |
1-5 pages |
10+ pages |
|
Article Titles |
Short & Catchy |
Long & Descriptive |
|
Cites Sources |
No |
Yes |
Use these search terms to narrow or broaden your search:
|
Term |
Example |
Result |
|
AND |
media AND bias |
Narrows the search to entries containing both terms. |
|
OR |
beer OR wine |
Broadens the search to entries containing either term. |
|
NOT |
bats NOT baseball |
Excludes entries containing the second term. |
|
“ ” |
“social work” |
Retrieves results containing the exact phrase in quotes. |
|
? |
globali?ation |
Wildcard: Retrieves both globalization and globalisation. |
|
* |
rehab* |
Truncation: Retrieves rehab, rehabilitate, rehabilitation. |