Scholarly journals are publications that have a regular schedule (monthly, quarterly, biannually, etc.) for researchers to publish their original research. They also include reviews of new books or resources and general updates in their field.

Scholarly journals are typically peer-reviewed, which means that fellow experts in that field have verified the article's contents. This process can take some time so scholarly articles are often published months or years after an event.

This type of source is used to get an expert's opinion on a specific field of study.

How to identify a peer-reviewed journal article

• In Library Search, an article from a peer-reviewed journal will have a purple icon . You can also Google the name of the journal to find their website and search their About or Submissions pages to see if they mention "peer-review."
  • Remember, peer-reviewed journals also have book reviews and updates from the field. If the article is only a page or two and does not include any references/works cited/bibliography, it is probably not a peer-reviewed journal article.
• The publication usually has "Journal" in the title but not always
• It is written by someone who studies or teaches in that field. They are usually associated with a university, the government, or large research company.
• It is written for researchers, teachers, or students in that field and uses academic terminology.
• Any images will be very academic (graphs, charts, images from microscopes, etc.)
• If there are any advertisements, they will be very specific to that field of study like an ad for a database or conference.

Popular sources are publications that also have a regular schedule (usually daily or weekly) for journalists to share news with the general public. They undergo a general editing process for content, style, and grammar but are not peer-reviewed.

This type of source is to get the general public's view on a topic or learn about a very recent event.

How to identify an article from a popular source

• In Library Search, there may be an icon indicating it is a newspaper or magazine If you Google the name of the publication and look at their About page, it will not mention "peer-review." There will probably be a contact page for the list of editors of the publication.
• There may be hyperlinks to more information but there is no list of references/works cited/bibliography.
• The publication may have "Times" or "Weekly" or "News" in the title.
• It is written by journalists for the general public and will explain any technical jargon. The writing style is either brief and to the point or very conversational.
• There are many advertisements and they may or may not be related to the content of the article.

Trade publications are publications that also have a regular schedule (usually monthly or quarterly) for researchers to publish updates on in-progress research or general conversations about actively working in that field of study or industry. They are written by active professionals or practitioners in the field for fellow professional and practitioners. They undergo a general editing process for content, style, and grammar but are not peer-reviewed.

This type of source is used to get a practitioner's opinion on a topic. They are usually closer to a situation than the authors of scholarly journal articles and discuss things in terms of practical application.

How to identify a trade journal article

• In Library Search, there will be no icon indicated it is a peer reviewed journal. If you Google the name of the publication and look at their About or Submissions page, it will not mention "peer-review" but may mention an editing process.
• The articles are a few pages long but rarely more than ten. It may include a list of references/works cited/bibliography.
• The publication will probably not have "Journal" in the title but may have the title of the profession like "American String Teachers."
• It is written by and for someone who is an active professional or practitioner in that field and uses some technical jargon but reads more like a newspaper article than a scholarly journal article.
• Images may be academic but some will also be for overall design and an attractive layout.
• Advertisements are specific to that field and are about as frequent as a newspaper or magazine.