Psychology

What is the difference between a popular source such as a magazine and a peer reviewed source / journal?

Magazines are written for the general public.  They often have a lot of advertisements in them.

Journals, on the other hand, are targeted to students or professionals working in a particular field.  The usually have very few ads in them.  The articles usually include bibliographies at at the end and the author's or authors' credentials (where they went to college and where they work) are given.

Sometimes a publication is peer-reviewed which means that all of the articles have been read and approved for publication by experts in the field.

Peer reviewed materials are excellent sources of information for scholarly papers!

Peer reviewed = Articles read & approved for publication by experts in the field

Experts = People with advanced degrees in the subject or who have worked in the field for many years

Popular sources such as magazines & newspapers

• Many advertisements
• Glossy pictures / photographs
• No bibliographies or list of sources
• Sometimes no author is listed
• Examples of magazines: 
  • U.S. News & World Report  
  • Psychology Today (sounds authoritative but is not) 
  • Time Magazine 
  • Sports Illustrated  

Peer reviewed materials

• Often include graphs and charts 
• Few advertisements 
• Bibliographies included
• Authors' credentials or backgrounds are given 
• Examples of peer reviewed journals:
  • Depression and Anxiety
  • Nursing Standard
  • Journal of Clinical Psychology
  • American Journal of Criminal Justice
  • Journal of Modern Literature

A peer reviewed source does not have to be a journal. Recently, the University of Michigan Press published A. D. Carson’s new i used to love to dream, a peer-reviewed hip-hop album. 

More examples of scholarly journals, trade magazines, and popular magazines