Research Unbound: A Library Orientation for Transfer, Upper-Division, and Graduate Students

Information Source: Consumer/Popular Magazines

Scholarly journals are periodicals, or publications that are published in regular and scheduled intervals. Another type of periodical is a consumer or popular magazine - you're probably familiar with these types of information resources, because they're everywhere: in the library, at the doctor's office, in the check-out lines at the grocery store, and maybe even arriving in your mailbox regularly. This type of periodical is different from scholarly journals in several ways:

• Magazine articles are usually written by journalists, staff writers, or professional writers -- not subject specialists.
• Magazine articles don't usually contain original research - they instead summarize others' research in ways that make it more accessible to the everyday reader.
• Any specialized vocabulary that is used in magazine articles is defined.
• Magazine articles often feature photos or illustrations other than charts or graphs.
• Advertisements are prevalent throughout a magazine's pages - in fact, this is a large funding source for these publications.

While consumer or popular magazines may not be suitable for scholarly research, they serve very useful purposes in helping you when you need to find:

• Up-to-date information about current events or popular culture.
• Articles written for the general population and not scholars, specialists, or experts in a field.