Skip to Main Content
Link to CSU Home
Link to CSU Home
Students in the Library

Michael Schwartz Library

216.687.2478
Students in the Connection Lounge
Michael Schwartz Library

COM 226: Mass Media & Society: Scholarly Sources

Reading Scholarly Articles and Scientific Papers

Google Scholar

Google Scholar Search

Popular, Trade or Scholarly?

Not all articles are created equal. There are specific qualities that distinguish articles published in popular magazines and newspapers, trade journals, and scholarly journals.  Be sure that the type of article you are using matches your professor's expectations and your research needs.

What does peer reviewed or refereed mean?

Peer Review is a process that journal publishers use to ensure the articles they publish represent the best scholarship currently available. When an article is submitted to a peer reviewed journal, the editors send it out to other scholars in the same field (the author's peers) to get their opinion on the quality of the scholarship, its relevance to the field, its appropriateness for the journal, etc.

Publications that do not use peer review (i.e. Time, Newsweek, Salon) just rely on the judgement of the editors. That's why you can't count on them for solid, scientific scholarship.

CRITERIAPOPULARTRADESCHOLARLY
Appearance eye-catching cover; glossy paper; color pictures and illustrations; each issue starts with page number 1 cover depicts industrial setting; glossy paper; color pictures and illustrations; each issue starts with page number 1 plain cover; plain paper; black and white graphics and illustrations; consecutive pagination throughout each volume
Audience nonprofessionals members of a specific business, industry, or organization researchers and professionals
Content personalities, news and general interest articles; articles written by staff, may be unsigned industry trends, new products or techniques, and organizational news; articles written by staff and contributing authors research projects, methodology, and theory; article written by contributing authors; authors are professionals and researchers in the field
Accountability editorial review editorial review; may have short bibliographies peer reviewed, refereed; extensive bibliographies
Advertisements

 heavy

moderate; all or most are trade related few or none
Examples Gourmet
Newsweek
Psychology Today
Time
Chilton's Food Engineering
Public Management
APA Monitor
Advertising Age

Journal of Food Science
Urban Studies
Journal of Applied Psychology
Journal of Extension

Peer Reviewed Articles

Peer reviewed articles are also called scholarly, refereed, or juried.

Created by North Carolina State University Libraries