Is it a scholarly journal or a popular magazine?
Scholarly journals...
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Have articles with footnotes or endnotes and a bibliography at the end of the text. Their articles often feature an abstract (summary) at the beginning of the article. The articles in scholarly journals always list the author's name.
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Have lengthy articles that present current research in the field.
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Are sometimes peer-reviewed (or refereed), which means the articles go through a screening process before they are published in the journal. A panel of scholars in the journal's field review submitted articles to ensure that the scholarship is good.
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Usually have very few or no ads and are often printed on matte paper.
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Are aimed at scholars in a particular field (biology, history, philosophy, etc.)
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Provide current, detailed information on a topic.
- Examples include: Journal of Philosophy, Modern Language Quarterly, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
Popular magazines...
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Often don't tell you who wrote the article or any of the sources they used.
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Have articles that are usually brief and offer only general or superficial coverage of a topic.
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Have lots of ads and are usually printed on glossy paper.
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Are written for a general audience.
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Are often great sources for current, general information on a topic.
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Examples include: Time, Newsweek, National Geographic
Still not sure if the journal is scholarly?
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