Comparing Periodicals and Articles

Articles may be found in scholarly journals, popular magazines and trade magazines. The type
you use depends on your research needs. Use the charts below to help distinguish among the
periodical and article types. Experience will make you adept at telling one from another.

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Comparing Journals and Magazines as a Whole

	Scholarly Journal	Popular Magazine	Trade Journal
Purpose	Advance knowledge in a field	Inform, persuade or entertain	Communicate within a profession
Scope	Limited to a field of study, or narrower	Varies, may be quite broad	Limited to a single profession
Publisher	Academic presses and learned associations	For-profit publisher	Professional associations
Audience	Scholars, students, and practitioners	Public-at-large	Members of a profession
Availability	Membership in an association, or library subscription	Widely available by subscription or purchase	Membership in an association, or library subscription
Appearance	Plain, except in visual fields	Eye-catching visuals and advertising	Varies

Scholarly Journals – advance knowledge in a discipline by presenting new research findings. The articles are written by the scholars who conduct the research. In what is called the referee or peer-review process, other scholars look at the scope of the article and the quality of the research to decide whether or not to accept the article for publication. The articles in scholarly journals are intended to engage an educated audience in conversation. They build on previous research (hence the extensive bibliographies) and provoke responses in the form of more research. Scholarly journals should be used for highly-focused original research.

Popular Magazines – inform, persuade, or entertain. In an effort to attract a large general audience, they are made widely available. Staff writers and free-lance authors write the articles, which tend to be informal and easy to read and are often accompanied by colorful eye-catching illustrations. They write articles based on interviews and witnesses and experts. They seldom cite the articles of books they use for research. Most magazines make money by selling advertising, so popular magazines are often filled with glossy ads. Examples of popular magazines include: Newsweek, National Geographic, People, and Rolling Stone.

Trade Journals and Subject Magazines – are devoted to the interests of practitioners within a trade or profession. Trade magazines cover the interests of skilled laborers, technicians, and artisans. Professional magazines cover the interests of professors, librarians, and members of other fields that require advanced degrees. Subject magazines cover a topic of interest to one or more professions. Practitioners write articles based on professional knowledge about people and news in the field. Subject magazines are particularly good at reporting research findings published in scholarly journals. Examples of professional magazines include: American Biology Teacher, Scholastic Coach, and Library Journal. Examples of subject magazines include Anthropology Today, Economist, and Scientific American. Trade magazines should be used for overviews of news and research in a particular field.

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Comparing Articles

	Scholarly Journal	Popular Magazine	Trade Journal
Purpose	Present new research findings	Inform, persuade, entertain	Communicate about a profession or trade
Author	Scholars listed with credentials	Journalists, staff, or free-lance writers	Members of a profession or trade
Publication Process	Refereed (reviewed by other scholars)	Edited	Edited
Structure	Often has a title, abstract, introduction, review of literature, methods, findings, discussion, and conclusion	Varies	Varies
Style	Formal	Informal	Informal
Support of Argument	Research built on prior research	Confirmed sources	Professional knowledge

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CRAAP Test for Evaluating Websites

CRAAP stands for Currency, Relevance, Authority, Accuracy, and Purpose. Its goal is to assist both students and educators in determining the reliability of an online source.

Click here for a printable CRAAP Test worksheet.

Currency: the timeliness of the information

• When was the information published or posted?
• Has the information been revised or updated?
• Is the currency of the information important for your topic?
• Is the information current or out-of-date for your topic?
• If it is an online resource, are the links working?

Relevance: the importance of the information for your needs

• Does the information relate to your topic or answer your question?
• Who is the intended audience?
• Is the information at an appropriate level for your purposes?
• Have you looked at other sources before choosing this one?
• Would you be comfortable using this source to complete a research paper or project?

Authority: the source of the information

• Who is the author/publisher/source/organization/sponsor?
• Are the author’s credentials or organizational affiliations provided?
• What are the author’s credentials or affiliations?
• Is there contact information for the author, organization, or publisher?
• Does the web adress (URL) reveal anything about the source?
  • .com (commercial); .edu (educational); .gov (government); .org (nonprofit organization); .net (network)

Accuracy: the reliability, truthfulness, and correctness of the content

• What is the origin of the information?
• Is it supported by evidence?
• Is it from a source that has been peer-reviewed or refereed?
• Can it be verified in another source or from your personal knowledge?
• Is there a bibliography or works cited list included?
• Does the language or tone seem unbiased and free of emotion?
• Are there spelling, grammar, or typographical errors?

Purpose: why the information exists

• What is the purpose of the information? to inform? teach? sell? entertain? persuade?
• Do the authors/sponsors make their intentions or purpose clear?
• Is the information fact? opinion? propaganda?
• Does the point of view appear to be objective and impartial?
• Are there political, ideological, cultural, religious, institutional, or personal biases? If so, are they appropriate to the context of the resource and to your information need?