Most professors at the University level require that all or most of the periodical articles you use in doing research come from scholarly journals. This is especially true for upper-division courses and is absolutely essential in graduate work. To help distinguish scholarly journals from other periodicals, some characteristics of scholarly journalTheory or backgrounds are listed below.
CHARACTERISTICS OF SCHOLARLY JOURNALS:
*Scholarly journals generally have a sober, serious look. They often contain many supporting graphs and charts but few glossy pages or exciting pictures.
*Articles in scholarly journals always cite their sources in the form of footnotes and/or bibliographies.
*Articles are organized into at least two of the following sections:
++ Introduction or literature review
++Theory or background
++Subjects
++ Methods
++Results
++ Discussion
*Articles are written by a scholar in the field or by someone who has done research in the field. The author's name appears at the beginning or the end of the article. The author's credentials are listed.
*The language of scholarly journals is that of the discipline covered. It assumes some scholarly background on the part of the reader.
*The main purpose of a scholarly journal is to report on original research or experimentation in order to make such information available to the rest of the scholarly world.
*The title of the article will reflect its content.
*Articles in scholarly journals will be indexed in subject oriented indexes. (e.g. PsycLit, ERIC, Humanities Index, Physical Education Index, Religion Index, etc.)
*Scholarly journals usually have a list of reviewers (editorial board) inside the front cover of the journal or in the first few pages. (This type of journal is known as a "juried" or "refereed" journal.)
*There may be an abstract at the beginning of the article.
*Many scholarly journals, though by no means all, are published by specific professional organizations.
Examples of Scholarly Journals
JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association
Psychological Bulletin (published by the American Psychological Assoc iation)
Journal of Marriage and the Family (Published by the National Council on Family Relations)
Sex Roles: A Journal of Research
Journal of Educational Research
Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science
Periodicals that are Not Scholarly Journals
Time, Newsweek, and U.S. News & World Report. While these news magazines can be of great assistance in providing an introduction to a current topic, they don't provide the same analysis as scholarly journals. Articles are not usually written by scholars in the field and are aimed at a more general audience than are articles in scholarly journals.
New Republic, National Review, and Nation. These opinion magazines are aimed at an educated audience, but without assuming particular scholarly background. They comment on current events and offer a particular viewpoint on world affairs, politics, and cultural matters.
Sports Illustrated, Health, Redbook, People, Reader's Digest, and Family Circle. Generally, academic libraries do not carry as many of these titles as public libraries do. Popular magazines, while attractive and entertaining, do not report on original research or cite sources, and are not the kind of source to cite in the bibliography of an academic paper. Some popular magazines will refer to a research report; you may use this reference as a clue to more information.
Beverage World, Dealer-Scope Merchandising, Automotive News, and Progressive Grocer. These trade journals are industry specific, designed to update and inform the reader on current trends in an industry.
Magazines for Libraries (ref Z6941.M23) lists many magazines and journals and gives an analysis of the content of the periodical. It lists special biases and affiliations of the item. Many times it also clarifies whether or not the journal is scholarly or popular.
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For more information check: http://www.lib.utsa.edu/Instruction/scholarly.html
http://www.crk.umn.edu/library/links/profjls.htm
Updated 10/08/01
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