CD 4498 (Hodge) - Advanced Child and Family Development: Popular and Scholarly Articles

     Why do professors want students to use scholarly journal articles instead of popular media such as websites and magazines in their papers and presentations?  Compare the characteristics of a magazine article to a scholarly journal article.

MAGAZINE ARTICLE

Purpose: To inform and entertain.

Audience: General public.

Authors: Journalists writing about the activities, accomplishments, etc., of other people.

Content: Some detail but usually fairly short in length, written in everyday language.

Quality Control: Editors select articles to be published.

SCHOLARLY JOURNAL ARTICLE

Purpose: To present scientific research in order to share knowledge.

Audience: Scientists, professors, researchers, and university students.

Authors: Scientists, professors, and researchers writing about their own research and sometimes the research of others.

Content: Lengthy, detailed, research methodology and results, written in the scientific language of the discipline.

Quality Control: Peer review, an involved and rigorous system of selecting articles to be published.

Scholarly journal articles contain high quality information that is detailed, complete, and trustworthy.

1. Scholarly journals exist in order to make results of original research done by scholars readily available to other scholars and researchers.
    
2. Only the person or people who actually did the research can submit an article for publication (no second-hand information).
    
3. Each article submitted is carefully examined by several reviewers who are experts and researchers in the relevant field, the peers of the author (peer-review process), before being accepted by a board of editors for publication.

     Therefore, the quality of the information contained in scholarly journals is more reliable and of  higher quality than the information in ordinary magazines. It also is more complete. While an ordinary magazine may have an article that talks about the researchers interested in starfish and what they have been doing, you will not get the full details of the experiments or research conducted. A scholarly journal article written by the starfish researchers will tell you everything.

IN PRINT

• No advertisements
• Articles are lengthy
• Articles have abstracts/summaries at the beginning
• The language used is more complex than magazine articles
• Articles have bibliographies/references at the end

ONLINE

• Articles are lengthy
• Articles have abstracts/summaries at the beginning
• The language used is more complex than magazine articles
• Articles have bibliographies/references at the end

     Most of the library's databases allow you to limit your search results to scholarly journals one way or another.

     Look for a box to click on the search screen or a menu option to the side of your list of results.

OR

Ask a librarian for assistance!

View our short video tutorials:

     Scholarly Journal: A special type of periodical preferred by researchers. Your professor may use any of the terms below, but they all mean the same thing—scholarly journals!

• academic journals
• juried publications
• original research
• primary research
• refereed publications