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Is it a Magazine or a Journal?
Magazines, journals, and newspapers are all referred to as periodicals or serials. They are publications that come out regularly (daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, etc.).
Periodicals can be grouped into three categories: popular magazines, professional or trade journals, and scholarly journals. You often must make choices about the type of periodicals you are using for class projects. Magazines may be appropriate for some projects. For others, your instructor may require journals.
No clear-cut definition can be given, but the following chart has some criteria to help you determine if your publication is a magazine or a journal. Not all scholarly or trade journals (Automotive News) have the word journal in the title. Sometimes a magazine (Ladies Home Journal ) or a newspaper (Wall Street Journal) will have journal in the title.
When you have the periodical in hand, use the chart below and see which description most closely matches your item. If the actual periodical is not available (such as when you are using an online full text article), it may be tricky to determine the type.
If in doubt, ask your instructor or a librarian.
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Magazines |
Professional or Trade Journals |
Scholarly Journals |
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Examples: |
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Intent: |
Report on general interest topics in a broad subject field. |
Examine problems or concerns in a particular profession or industry.> |
Report on original research, experiments, or ideas in a specific field of discipline. |
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Intended Audience: |
General audience. |
Practitioners of a particular profession, trade, or industry. |
Scholars and researchers. |
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Authors: |
Staff writers, freelance authors, guest scholars. |
Writers or experts within the occupational group. |
Scholars, researchers, and experts within the field. |
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Articles: |
A wide variety of topics are covered, emphasizing topics of current public interest or concern. Articles are brief and written in easy to understand language. |
Articles are of interest to a specialized occupational group. |
Articles include an introduction that states the problem, a methods section that describes how the problem was studied, a results section that reports the findings, and a discussion that explains implications of the findings. |
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References: |
Usually do not cite sources. |
Usually do not cite sources. |
Cite sources with footnotes and/or bibliographies. An abstract or summary often precedes the article. |
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Layout: |
Glossy paper, photos, cartoons, sidebars. |
Glossy paper, photos, cartoons, sidebars. |
Plain paper, tables, figures, charts. |
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Advertising: |
Many general consumer ads. |
Many ads, usually for products and services related to a specific field. |
Fewer ads, usually for other journals or special services and products for a specific field. |
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