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SUBJECT LIBGUIDE: EVALUATING RESOURCES: Evaluating Periodicals

 

Periodical 

a term used to describe any publication that is published multiple times (periodically). Periodicals include materials such as popular magazines, scholarly journals, and newspapers. It is important to understand the difference between a popular and  scholarly periodical.

Peer-review

refers to the  process that articles undergo before they may be published.  Other scholars in the author's field or discipline review and evaluate the article for quality and validity.  If lacking, the article may be rejected, but otherwise, the article is accepted, often with suggestions for revision.

 

 

 

 

Evaluating Articles

Appearance

Plain image and cover; black and white with graphics and illustrations

Content

Content often includes  abstract, method, discussion, tables, conclusion, and references. In-depth analysis of issues in the fields. Images and advertisements are not  included. 

Language

Academic, technical terms in professions (i.e. business, Medical, etc.) relevance towards topics or experience in the discipline of study.

Audience

The audiences scholarly journals is described as professionals who are experts in their fields. 

Authorship

They are researchers, professionals, scholars and  more that are experts in their fields. It is those who are qualified to discuss subjects in the fields of study. 

References

References include footnotes, bibliographies, list of cited references used

Editors
These sources can be peer-reviewed and undergo a process through expert criticism. 

Publishers

Publishers consist of academic organizations, scholarly publishers or universities/higher education.

Evaluating Popular Magazines

Appearance

The cover will be on glossy paper and appealing to the general audience.

Content

Popular magazines do not provide an in-depth analysis which includes non-academic content and popular culture. These are usually the 2nd or 3rd had sources from the original source.

Language

The language is easy to understand for everyday people and not subject specific in profession or field of study.

Audience

The audience is the general population.

Authorship

The authors consist of journalists or staff writers. Authorship can also not be subject experts on topics of discussions. 

References

References are not usually included.

Editors

These are not peer reviewed  and works for the company/publishers.

Publishers

These are commercial publishers disseminate information to the general public whose primary goal is publishing.

 

 

Newspapers

Appearance

This appears as appealing to the general audience.

Content

Content includes events and news which can be local, regional, national or international. It has advertisements, editorials, speeches, poems and more. Primary resources include information for events. Newspapers also contain advertisements.

Language

The language is easy to understand for everyday people and not subject specific in profession or field of study.

Audience

The audience is the general population.

Authorship

The authors consist of journalists or staff writers. Authorship can also not be subject experts on topics of discussions. 

References

References are not usually included.

Editors

These are not peer reviewed  and works for the company/publishers.

Publishers

These are commercial publishers disseminate information to the general public whose primary goal is publishing.

Audience

The audience is the general population.