Scholarly journals are written by and for experts in a field. The articles tend to be long and contain many citations and footnotes. |
Popular magazines are written for a more general audience, and authors tend to be journalists or staff writers. The articles usually don't provide footnotes or detailed citations. |
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This site will give you a more detailed analysis of the differences between these types of publications: |
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One of the main characteristics of scholarly journals is the process of peer review. Research articles being considered for publication in a scholarly journal are sent to experts in the subject field (peers) for evaluation and comment (review). Journals following this process are sometimes called Refereed Journals.
This short video explains how peer review works.
Elements of a Scholarly Article:
A scholarly research article usually contains the following components:
Title of the article
Authors and Affiliations
Abstract - a summary of the article
Introduction: The introduction gives some general background and includes a review of the literature published on the topic. The purpose for doing the research is presented and the limits of the study may be described.
Method and material: Gives a description of the methods and material used. The description should be detailed and thorough, so that other researchers may be able to assess the reliability and credibility and if wanted, repeat the research based on this.
Results: Here, the results are accounted for, together with tables and diagrams, if used.
Discussion/Conclusions: This is where the presented results are evaluated. Methodological considerations are discussed, as well as the way the results relate to earlier research within the same area.
References: All cited documents included in the article must be listed in the references.
This image of a scholarly article shows its various components.
Reading a Scholarly Article:
Keep in mind that you do not have to read the entire article the first time through. Instead, start with the abstract which will give you a general summary of the article. If the abstract seems relevant then move to the conclusion or discussion section of the article to gain a better understanding of the article's main claims. At this point if the article does not seem relevant or useful then discard it. However, if the article does seem useful, spend as much time as necessary reading the article.
