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Reading 85

Reading Skills

Characteristics of a Popular Magazine or Resource (including web pages)

A popular magazine or popular resources (a web page for example) is very different from a scholarly journal article.  

  • No literature review or references to scholarly research
  • No data or study results presented
  • Single author who is not in higher education; may not be an expert in the topic
  • Writing from interviews with others or a second-hand resource
  • Articles are short and typically not in-depth
  • Written in non-technical language
  • Often has glossy photographs
  • Covers general interest topics
  • Examples include Rolling Stone, People, House Beautiful

Characteristics of a Trade Journal

 

A trade journal is neither scholarly nor popular.  Trade journals are written specifically for a discipline, industry, or business for the professionals in that field.

  • Articles focus on information about that industry (fishing, bowling, music - any discipline can have a trade journal)
  • Articles may include data or statistics of interest ot that industry (sales trends, monthly labor reports, catch yields)
  • Trade journals are often published by associations for that discipline or profession (AdWeekInside Higher Education, Chemical Engineering News)
  • Articles may or may not include references, but any references will be brief.