You will find primary, secondary, and tertiary information in a variety of publications. Knowing how to recognize scholarly works is important to ensure the validity of new research based on these works. Peabody Library’s Scholarly vs. Popular Periodicals (3:12) gives a great overview of the differences between scholarly, popular, and trade periodicals. Click to view the video now.

Scholarly Periodicals

Scholarly articles are written by researchers from academia and industry and are published in open-access and traditional journals, conference proceedings, books, and other media. These articles are shared in scholarly repositories, on academic websites, via academic database subscriptions, and other places. Peer-reviewed articles, as the name suggests, have been reviewed by experts in the specific subject area of the research to ensure that they are accurate, the science behind them is sound, and they add to the body of knowledge. Scholarly periodicals do not explicitly identify themselves as such -- it is up to you to evaluate -- but there are several indicators of scholarly work that we will talk about in the Week 2 module.

Scholarly articles document research results and will form the bulk of the resources you use in your academic coursework. Find scholarly periodicals online in these resources and others:

Library databases. If you are affiliated with a university, you likely have permission to access periodical databases with your student login.
Google Scholar. Find full-text scholarly articles and/or citations.
Scholarly Open-Access Publications. Open-access publishers, universities, and research organizations provide free access to scholarly articles, periodicals, theses, and dissertations online.

Popular Magazines

Popular magazines, like those that you will find in most grocery-store checkouts and on newsstands, contain content that is sometimes written by experts, but more often by staff writers that are sometimes even anonymous. Articles and advertisements are generally non-technical, eye-catching, and intended for the general public.

These types of publications may be used to augment your academic work, but don't rely solely on them. Find popular magazines online in these resources and others:

Online Magazines. A directory of free online magazines, organized by category.
Magazine Directory. Information and links to many magazines, organized alphabetically by title.

Trade Publications

Trade publications include reports, newsletters, and magazines pertaining to a specific industry or trade. These publications typically feature advertisements, career information, and industry-specific news, and are generally used for marketing.

Information from trade publications is useful for supplying facts, data, specifications, and other technical information for your academic work. Find trade publications online in these resources and others:

Organizational websites. Many professional and commercial organizations link to trade publications on their websites.
Glumac. "Green" engineering publications that provide free subscriptions.
Tradepub.com. Free trade magazine subscriptions and technical document downloads.
WTO publications. World Trade Organization publications in the field of economics.

PRE-FLIGHT CHECKLIST

Check your understanding of the concepts above by answering the questions below.

What does the term “peer-reviewed” mean?
Can popular magazine articles be used in your research?
What kinds of information can you find in trade publications?

Click here for answers!