|
Criteria |
Scholarly Journals | Popular Magazines |
| Samples |  |
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| Author | The author is usually an academic, scholar or researcher who is an expert in a particular field or subject. | The author’s name may or may not be given; the author may be a professional or staff writer with little or no expertise in the subject or field |
| Audience | Written for scholars, researchers, academics and students | Written for a general audience |
| Accountability | Editors review articles for accuracy; articles may undergo an additional process called peer review. This review is done by experts in the same field or by an expert on that topic | Editors on the editorial staff review articles; editors are not experts in the field or experts on a specific topic |
| Content | Original or academic research which includes methodology, theory, and/or experimentation and discussion | Popular, timely, easy to understand articles |
| Language | Technical jargon or specialized terminology of a specific field or subject area | Easy to understand language |
| Layout & Organization | Structured; generally includes the article abstract, objectives, methodology, analysis, results (evidence), discussion, conclusion and references. May have charts, tables and/or graphs; no ads are used | Informal; may include a variety of formats. May not include evidence or conclusions are included. Ads are part of the layout |
| References | Always has a list of references with a list or bibliography of sources. Quotes and facts can be verified | Rarely has a list of references, no information about the sources are included |
| Examples | Science, Nature, Journal of American Medical Association, Chemical Science | Vogue, Time, People, National Geographic, US News & World Report |