Carnegie Vincent Library- Scholarly vs Popular Articles
Online Databases
- Academic Search Complete [EBSCO] This link opens in a new windowMulti-disciplinary full-text database with more than 8,500 full-text periodicals, including more than 7,300 peer-reviewed journals. Indexes and abstracts more than 12,500 journals and a total of more than 13,200 publications including monographs, reports, and conference proceedings. Searchable cited references are provided for more than 1,400 journals.
- Credo Reference This link opens in a new windowNearly 3.5 million full text articles in 835 reference books from 108 publishers. Includes encyclopedias, atlases, dictionaries, bilingual dictionaries, and subject-specific works.
- Gale Academic OneFile This link opens in a new windowThe premier source for peer-reviewed, full-text articles for academic libraries from the world's leading journals, this comprehensive resource covers the physical and social sciences, medicine, engineering, the arts, technology, literature, and many other subjects. With millions of articles in both PDF and HTML full-text format and simultaneous, unlimited usage, researchers are able to find accurate, timely information quickly. Gale's InterLink technology intelligently connects contextually-relevant results from your library's eBook collection on GVRL within articles in a user's search results. The Topic Finder tool adds power and depth to searches, allowing students to mine their search results and develop their research focus in ways never before available.
- LexisNexis (now called: Nexis Uni) This link opens in a new windowNexis Uni™ features more than 15,000 news, business and legal sources from LexisNexis®—including U.S. Supreme Court decisions dating back to 1790—with an intuitive interface that offers quick discovery across all content types, personalization features such as Alerts and saved searches and a collaborative workspace with shared folders and annotated documents.
Journal, Magazine, and Newspaper Comparison
Characteristics | Scholarly (Peer-Reviewed) or (Refereed) & Research Journals | Professional and Trade Industry | Popular Magazines | Newspapers |
Examples | Journal of American History ; Journal of Educational Research | Library Journal ; Science Teacher | People , Time , Sports Illustrated | New York Times ; Boston Globe |
Purpose/Content/Use | Read by other researchers and professionals. Used for research, scholarship, and analysis covering in-depth topics | news, events, current trends, products, forecasts and employment | entertainment, special interests, persuasion, opinion, current events, quick facts | current events, news, local information, opinions, entertainment |
Author | subject specialist and experts (Researchers professors, scholars) | practitioner, professional, subject knowledgeable specialist | staff writer, reporter, journalist | journalist, reporter, and editor, may include expert |
Audience | Professionals, researchers, scholars, students in a specific discipline | practitioners, professionals, general public | general public | general public |
Credibility/Reliability | Reviewed/refereed by experts. The format and content meets strict guidelines. Generally includes a bibliography and may also include the author's credentials | Reviewed by editors, professional/trade associations | Editor and staff reviewed | Editor and staff reviewed |
Appearance | serious; plain paper, may include abstracts, charts, graphs, tables, and a bibliography. | trade advertisements | colorful, glossy, advertisements | advertisements |
Language | Includes discipline specific language | May include professional jargon | general audience, non-technical, simple language | basic terms, non-technical |
Length | articles with in-depth coverage | short news items and in-depth articles | short articles | brief articles |
Frequency | monthly or quarterly | weekly or monthly | weekly or monthly | daily or weekly |
Publisher | An academic publisher; professional or scholarly association or society | An organization, association, or corporation | Corporation, commercial enterprises, individuals | Corporation, commercial enterprises, individuals |