LibGuides: Research Process: Articles

Periodical Articles

The term "periodical" refers to anything that is published at regular intervals throughout the year such as a newspaper, magazine, or journal:

Newspapers can be published daily, weekly or monthly. Editorials focus on commentary or opinion while the news articles are supposed to be factual information. Newspapers may have a viewpoint that echoes their publisher or the audience they serve which you may discover by "reading between the lines."
Popular magazines are not in-depth enough to be scholarly. The magazine may have an area of interest - Parenting is devoted to raising children and Time is a news magazine, but the articles are intended as overviews. Authors may or may not be named, there may be illustrations or charts, but there won't be a bibliography at the end.
Academic journals contain articles written by professionals in the field. The articles may be original research or an extension of previous research, illustrated with graphs, tables and they have a list of references at the end. Articles submitted to a academic journal are peer reviewed or juried, meaning other experts read and suggest revisions to the author before the final version is accepted for publication.

Library Databases

A database is a collection of sources including books, ebooks, magazines, journals, and newspapers.

Use the library's Research Guides for your course of study or ask a librarian to identify the best database for your information need.

You can also find resources for your research by selecting from the full list of databases the library subscribes to. For descriptions of database coverage and a list of the library's most popular databases, click View More Results.

Searching Library Databases

The short video below describes how to run a search in FiSH. FiSH (First, Search Here) searches most of the library resources using one simple search box. To search FiSH, use the box below or visit the Library Home Page.

Lakeland Library YouTube Channel
For more helpful videos on searching FiSH and other library resources, visit the Lakeland Library's YouTube channel.

FiSH Search

Enter a Search Term:

Scholarly or Not?

What is a scholarly source?

A scholarly source is material written by an expert or experts (scholarly articles will often have multiple authors) for other experts. If a journal is peer reviewed, that means scholars in the field looked at the material and made comments or recommendations before it could be published, this process ensures that the information is more credible than, say, a website like Yahoo Answers or Reddit. Often these scholarly, peer reviewed articles describe a study that was done, including the objectives and outcomes.

How do I know that a source is scholarly?

Often, your professors will require you to use scholarly sources, so how can you tell that this requirement is being met? The New York Times seems like a credible source, but is it scholarly?

Here are some criteria that can help you determine if a source is scholarly (or not):

The authors names, affiliations, and credentials are included.
There is a list of references (usually many, many references) at the end of the article.
There will be very few images and advertisements (if any), instead you'll find charts, graphs, and other types of data.
The language will be advanced and often use jargon or words specific to the discipline.
***When using the library databases, you can actually check a box to limit your sources to Scholarly (Peer Reviewed) - additionally, the articles are labeled, look for those with the label Academic Journal (these terms are often used interchangeably).***

Periodical Comparison Chart

Periodical Comparison Chart
Newspapers	Magazines	Journal (Opinion)	Journal (Scholarly)	Journal (Trade)
Plain Dealer, Wall Street Journal	Newsweek, Psychology Today, Billboard	The New Republic, The Animal's Agenda	Crystal Engineering, New England Journal of Medicine	Journal of the American Library Association, Publisher's Weekly
General readership - news, opinions, text of speeches, local interest	Overviews, non-technical language, advertisements	Journal has specific agenda written to appeal to like-minded readers	Professional readership - research, analysis, technical vocabulary	Journal of association or trade organization meant for people in that field
By-line for important staff writers, often no author named, no credentials given	By-line for important staff writers, often no author named, no credentials given	Featured writers have by-line, staff writers often not named, no credentials given	All contributing authors named with their degrees and sponsoring institution	Varies - some name authors and their credentials, others not
Articles often do not refer to sources	No bibliography, articles may refer to other sources	No bibliography, articles may refer to other sources	Extensive bibliography, footnotes in text, article often begins with literature review	Varies from journal to journal
Standards set by newspaper editors and owners	Staff editors, no peer or expert review	Staff editors, no peer or expert review	Articles "peer reviewed" for accuracy by other experts	Staff editors, no peer or expert review
Brief overview articles or follow-up columns	Short overview articles meant as starting point for readers	Short articles supporting journal's agenda	Comprehensive papers outlining original research or new synthesis of previous research	Shorter overview articles applying to specific topics in trade
Photographs, some charts, maps etc.	Advertisements, photographs, illustrations, maps etc.	Advertisements, photographs, illustrations, maps etc.	Tables, graphs, charts, maps, illustrations to support text	Advertisements, photographs, illustrations
No consistent format for articles	No specific structure unless written by featured writer	No specific structure unless written by featured writer	Structured, beginning with abstract, literature review, methodology, results, conclusion, bibliography	No specific structure unless written by featured writer