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Periodicals by Type
For a complete listing of magazines, journals and newspapers and to determine if it is academic, scholarly or refereed check out, Ulrich's International Periodicals Directory.
For information on how to locate an article, see Finding Articles.
| Types | Scholarly and Research Journals | Professional and Trade Journals | Journals of Commentary and Opinion | Newspapers/ Magazines | Popular Magazines | Sensational Publications |
| Examples | American Anthropologist, Sociological Review, Child Development | RN, Restaurant Business, Automotive News | Mother Jones, Commonweal, America | Time, Newsweek, Business Week, New York Times | Sports Illustrated, Vogue, Field and Stream | National Enquirer, Globe, Star |
| Contents | Original research reports and substantial review articles; usually are peer reviewed or refereed. | Articles on current trends and events in a field or industry. Often provide information about specific companies and industry/field statistics. | Commentary on current social and political issues. A given publication often reflects a certain bias (see Journals of Commentary and Opinion page). | News articles on topics of general interest. | Articles on a wide range of topics, including sports, fashion, famous people, and entertainment. In general, articles are short and at a basic reading level. | Sensational/outrageous articles written in a quasi-newsjournal style. For entertainment purposes only; validity is dubious at best. |
| Language | Assume familiarity with the terminology of the discipline. | Assume familiarity with the terminology of the industry. | Written for a general educated audience. | Written for a general educated audience. | Written for a general audience in non-technical language. | Written for a general audience in simple language. |
| Authors | Scholars and Researchers. | Journalists with subject expertise. | Specialists, scholars, members of the sponsoring organization, or other interested parties. | Staff or freelance journalists. | Staff or freelance journalists. | Staff or freelance writers. |
| Sources | Footnotes and references; often extensive documentation. | Full documentation not always given. | Variable; full documentation not always given. | Sources not usually cited. | Sources not usually cited. | Sources rarely cited. |
| Publishers | Universities, research institutes, scholarly presses, and professional organizations. | Professional associations or commercial publishers. | Nonprofit organizations or commercial publishers. | Commercial publishers. | Commercial publishers. | Commercial publishers. |
| Graphics | Graphs, charts and tables. | Charts, tables, illustrations, and photographs. | Variable. | Charts and photographs. | Many illustrations and photographs. | Many photographs; may be retouched. |
| Advertising | The more general journals have selective advertising. | Ads related to the industry. | Variable. | Many ads. | Many ads. | Many ads. |
| Access Tools | Specialized indexes (eg. PsycINFO , Physics Abstracts , MLA Bibliography , etc.) Ask a librarian for assistance in selecting the best one. | Business and specialized indexes (e.g. ABI/Inform , Business Index ). | General and some specialized indexes (e.g. Academic Search Premier). | General and newspaper indexes (e.g. Factiva ). | General indexes (e.g. Readers' Guide , Factiva ). | Indexes not generally available. |
