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Identifying and Evaluating Sources: Types of Articles

This guide is intended to help you identify types of sources and evaluate those sources for quality and objectivity.

Journals

Scholarly journal articles are written by an authority or expert in a particular field to communicate new knowledge, discoveries, and research to a scientific or academic community. 

Characteristics of scholarly journal articles:

  • Often have a formal appearance with tables, graphs, and diagrams
  • Always have an abstract or summary paragraph above the text; may have sections describing methodology
  • Articles are written by an authority or expert in the field
  • The language includes specialized terms and the jargon of the discipline
  • Titles of scholarly journals often contain the word "Journal", "Review", "Bulletin", or "Research"
  • Usually have a narrow or specific subject focus
  • Contains original research, experimentation, or in-depth studies in the field
  • Written for researchers, professors, or students in the field
  • Often reviewed by the author's peers before publication (peer-reviewed or refereed)
  • Advertising is minimal or none

{Excerpt from Mabee Library-Washburn University]

Check out the Anatomy of a Scholarly Article tutorial by NCSU Libraries to learn how to identify a scholarly journal article. 

Trade Publications

Trade publications (also known as trade magazines) are magazines that contain articles for professionals in a certain discipline, such as business, nursing or engineering. Articles tend to be practical, as opposed to theoretical or research based.

Characteristics of trade publication articles:

  • Can be found at newsstands, book stores, grocery stores, and public libraries
  • Written about business or industry trends, products, techniques by business or industry representatives
  • Written in the language of the profession, which can cause them to resemble journal articles
  • Have titles that contain the subject they cover like Monitor on Psychology, Grocery Store News, and Women's Wear Daily
  • Have glossy pages with color photos and are published weekly or monthly
  • Trade publications sell advertising space to businesses marketing services to people in the field
  • Seldom contain bibliographies with no clear indication of how they learned what they wrote about beyond sometimes cryptic notes of "industry sources or "unnamed White House officials" 
  • Trying to entertain the reader, sell a product, or promote a viewpoint

Magazines

Magazine articles are considered popular literature because they are written for and read by the general public. They are good sources of information if you are not familiar with the discipline but are far from scholarly articles. 

Characteristics of magazine articles:

  • Can be found at newsstands, book stores, grocery stores, and public libraries
  • Written about current events or general interest for the general public in easy-to-understand language, avoiding jargon and technical terms by a diverse group of people, usually journalists
  • Article titles are short and catchy to attract attention or be noticed while you flip through the issue.
  • Have glossy pages with color photos and are published weekly or monthly
  • Magazines sell advertising space
  • Seldom contain bibliographies with no clear indication of how they learned what they wrote about beyond sometimes cryptic notes of "industry sources" or "unnamed White House officials"
  • Trying to entertain the reader, sell a product, or promote a viewpoint

Newspapers

Newspaper articles are read by the general public and are considered popular literature. They are good sources of information if you are not familiar with the topic but are far from scholarly articles.

Newspaper article characteristics:

  • Can be found at newsstands, book stores, grocery stores, and public libraries
  • Written for the general public in easy-to-understand language, avoiding jargon and technical terms by journalists
  • Article titles are short and catchy to attract attention or be noticed while you walk past the stack of newspapers on the newsstand
  • Printed on cheap paper (newsprint) with ink that rubs off on your hands which typifies the ephemeral nature of newspaper articles
  • Published daily with newspaper stories changing daily, which is why you should exercise caution before you use a newspaper article for your assignment
  • Newspapers sell advertising space
  • Seldom contain bibliographies with no clear indication of how they learned what they wrote about beyond sometimes cryptic notes of "industry sources" or "unnamed White House officials"
  • Trying to entertain the reader, sell a product, or promote a viewpoint