LSU Libraries User Instruction
Finding Periodical Articles

Types of Periodical Literature

Periodical articles are the preferred form of communication in many academic disciplines--especially in fields like science, business, and politics where currency is very important. Periodicals are published much more frequently than books are and authors can write and publish articles about specific topics much quicker than they can write full-length books.

Most people classify periodical literature into two main categories.

Popular:
Magazines written for the general public
Examples:



Scholarly (or "Academic"):
Journals about academic topics written by "experts in the field" for other "experts in the field" (journals written by doctors for other doctors, or written by scientists for other scientists, or written by historians for other historians, etc.). Many of the articles in scholarly journals present "primary information" (such as scientists presenting the results of their most recent experiment). Most scholarly journal articles are also "peer-reviewed" (reviewed and edited by other experts on that topic before they are published) to ensure quality.
Examples:


The above examples are pretty obvious but sometimes it's not so easy to tell the difference between a popular magazine and an academic journal. For example, look at the two periodicals below. Can you tell just by looking at the cover which is the academic journal?

this is a popular magazine this is an academic journal


Psychology Today is about an academic topic, psychology, but it is definitely a popular magazine. The articles in it are very brief and written for the general public. There are more pictures and advertisements than there is actual text. It's not the sort of periodical that you would want to use as a reference in a college-level research paper.

And what about the following? Which do you think is the academic journal?


this is an academic journal this is a popular magazine


Civil War Times might be about a historical topic, but it is a popular magazine with short articles and lots of pictures.

Unless you are writing a paper on a popular culture topic or a current event, you'll probably want to use scholarly journals rather than popular magazines. To see more information on the difference between popular and scholarly topics go to the Evaluation Tutorial.

Back            Next



Comments | LSU Libraries | Louisiana State University | Library Instruction
Baton Rouge, LA 70803
Tel (225) 578-5652 | Fax (225) 578-9432
Copyright © 1998-2008 LSU Libraries
URL: http://www.lib.lsu.edu/instruction/periodical/period01.html
Last Updated: Wednesday, 29-Aug-2007 16:48:20 CDT
 		LSU Logo