You will come across different types of journals in your searching. Some characteristics of each type are listed below to help you distinguish between them. At university you will mostly be expected to use academic/scholarly journals.
| Academic/scholarly journals | Trade/Industry journals | Popular journals |
| Report/comment on original research and developments in an academic discipline | Report on industry trends | Report on current trends and popular topics |
| Little or no advertising | Industry related advertising | Contain commercial advertising |
| Written by experts in an academic discipline | Written by industry professionals | Articles written by journalists |
| Technical language with assumed knowledge of terminology and subject | Includes some technical terminology but still easy to understand | Articles written in language that is easy to understand |
| Extensive list of references | Articles contain few or no references | Articles contain few or no references |
|
Example of a scholarly journal: |
Example of a trade journal: |
Example of a popular journal: |
Peer-reviewed journals
You will also come across the term "peer reviewed" (aka "refereed") around journals:
|
Click the image below to return to
|
