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
Peer reviewed journals
Experts in the field and students conducting research in the field will consult peer reviewed publications for scholarly information. Some examples of peer reviewed journals in information technology include those listed below but there are thousands of other publications in the field.
Trade Journals
Trade journals are often used by people working in the field and students to find out what others in the field are working on or research that is about to be published in scholarly journals. The information in trade journals has not gone through the peer reviewed process, yet. It is a great place to consult, though, when looking for what is coming up in the field. Some examples of trade publications are listed below.
Popular Magazines
Someone who is not an expert in the field might consult a popular magazine. The information published is for the general public not experts in the field. For example, not being an expert in the field of cybersecurity, I might consult one of the following publications to find reviews of software to purchase for my home computer.
Mos of the library databases and the library OneSearch box make it easy to narrow your search results to specific materials! Below is a screen shot of how you can narrow your results in OneSearch but more information is available in the left-hand tabs of this guide.
|
SCHOLARLY JOURNALS |
TRADE MAGAZINES |
POPULAR MAGAZINES |
|
|
Appearance |
plain cover plain paper black/white graphics & illustrations, many charts & graphs pages consecutive throughout each volume |
cover depicts industrial setting glossy paper pictures & illustrations in color each issue starts with page 1 |
eye-catching cover glossy paper pictures & illustrations in color each issue starts with page 1 |
|
Audience |
students studying in a particular field, researchers, or professionals |
members of a specific business, industry, or organization |
nonprofessionals |
|
Content |
research projects, methodology, & theory articles written by contributing authors |
industry trends, new products or techniques, & organizational news articles written by staff or contributing authors |
personalities, news, & general interest articles articles written by staff, may be unsigned |
|
Accountability |
peer reviewed/refereed bibliographies included |
editorial review may have short bibliographies |
editorial review no bibliographies |
|
Advertisements |
very few or no ads |
all or most of the ads are trade related |
many ads throughout |
|
Examples |
Critical Care Nurse Current Psychology Journal of Small Business Management Literature-Film Quarterly |
Business Marketing Dairy Farmer Hospital Law Newsletter Nursing Times
|
Ladies Home Journal New York Psychology Today Sports Illustrated |
Finding articles from peer reviewed journals and other sources is most efficiently accomplished by using the library databases.
The library databases:
More information about the MLA citation elements can be found at https://esearch.sc4.edu/MLA.
To save time finding full text scholarly sources of information!
The SC4 library subscribes to over 200 databases. The full list is available here. You can search the database individually or search them all at once by using the OneSearch box found on the library homepage. We will discuss using the OneSearch box later in this program.
The flowchart below is from an article cited under the chart. (Reading the article or memorizing the chart is not required!)
Memorizing the flowchart is not necessary. It is posted here to show the long, scholarly process required to obtain peer reviewed status. Summaries of the submitted article may appear in general or trade magazines before achieving peer reviewed designation The article or item may also be published online with the label "submitted for peer review" beforehand.
Voight, Michael L., and Margaret J. Hoogenboom. "Publishing Your work in a Journal: Understanding the Peer Review Process." Journal of Sports Physical Therapy, vol. 7, no. 5, Oct. 2012, pp. 452-60, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3474310/. Accessed 24 Aug. 2023.
