Popular vs. Scholarly Periodicals

References to particular sources allows credit to be given to other people's ideas and to show how past research has shaped the current study under discussion.  Also, references provide a check and balance system for the reader.  If you question the claims or arguments of an author, you can always go back and look at the cited references to confirm the author's statements are based on a sound interpretation of existing data or facts.

Because the reader has little means for corroborating any statements within the article, popular articles must be used with caution if you intend to make claims of truth.

This method often takes the form of experiments (sciences or social sciences) or literature analyses (humanities).  By reporting on original research projects, scholarly articles do not summarize the project under discussion.  Rather, they provide ample details so the reader can understand the need for the project, the methods used for gathering data or performing analyses, the results of the project, and the importance of these results to a discipline.

Articles are written for the general public or for a particular profession or trade and are intended to entertain or provide general information on a topic. These articles often promote a particular point of view (e.g. the conservative opinions in The Nation), although some attempt to be more middle of the road (e.g. Newsweek).  Results of original research may be mentioned, but only summarized.  Popular articles are good for learning about people's views on various issues or to understand a current event from a non-scientific point of view.

These sections are representative of the scientific method used in these disciplines.  Although all of these sections will be present, they may not be fully labeled as such.  For example one article may not have a heading titled "introduction"  where as another may present the conclusion within the "discussion" section. In the humanities and some of the social sciences, articles often do not follow such a format.  Rather, they appear as well organized and argued essays, often with separate sections, but with no distinct section headings.  However, references to other sources will be provided, either as a list at the end, or throughout the article as footnotes. 

Any apparent structure via section headings are often subjective, based on the thoughts of the writer or editors for a particular periodical.

One of the reasons for including this information is to help establish the authors' credibility.   Another is to provide the readers with an opportunity to contact the authors if they have questions about the study or project. Note, in some scholarly periodicals, although the names of the authors will be given on the title page of an article, contact information and credentials might be listed at the beginning or end of the journal under a list of contributors.

Scholarly articles are written by scholars for other scholars, which makes them difficult to understand for lay readers or those with only basic training in a field.  

Since popular periodicals are meant for the general public, they are written in a way that is approachable by as wide an audience as possible.  Those popular periodicals directed to a particular profession or trade (e.g. American Libraries for librarians) may include jargon unfamiliar to the general public, but overall, the articles are written in a non-technical manner.

The purpose of scholarly periodicals is to publish information relevant to particular disciplines that has been gathered using rigorous and structured methods.  This information is so valued and unique, these periodicals do not have to attract readers based on appearance.   As a result, these periodicals rarely include flashy advertisements, and photographs are minimal, usually in black and white.  More common are graphs and tables, which are used to represent data.  Any advertisements present in scholarly periodicals tend to be directed toward scholarly products or services.  Note, some very scholarly publications (e.g. Nature, Science, Journal of the American Medical Association, etc.) do have more colorful advertisements and print.  However, as a whole, scholarly journals are less showy than popular periodicals.

As mentioned earlier, the purpose of popular periodicals is to entertain or inform readers about current events or issues. These events or issues are often covered by many different periodicals, thus there is intense competition for readers. In order to compete, these periodicals and the companies that advertise in them use appearance as a selling point. Depending on the focus of the periodical, advertisements will be directed to the interests of a general reader or those belonging to a particular profession or trade.

Professional organizations (e.g. Academy of Political Science, Nordic Ecological Society, American Historical Association), consist of members who have working experience or an educational background in a particular discipline. As a result, these organizations tend to publish periodicals relating to their memberships' interests. However, not all publications from a professional organization are scholarly.  Some, such as American Libraries (mentioned earlier), are written as a general news source for the profession and not as a scholarly source of information.

Commercial publishers (e.g. Rodale Publishers for Organic Gardening, Time Mirror Magazines for Outdoor Life,  Time Warner for Time, etc.) are concerned about making a profit and as a result, will target their publications to as wide an audience as possible. You commonly see popular periodicals on magazine racks in local bookstores or grocery stores. However, some popular periodicals are published by professional organizations, e.g. National Wildlife by the National Wildlife Federation or the AAHE Bulletin by the American Association of Higher Education. These publications will have much smaller circulation and may only be available in libraries or through a personal subscription.