Articles in Periodicals
Periodicals are magazines, journals, newspapers, newsletters, and other literatures that are published regularly -- daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, etc. -- under the same general title (e.g., Newsweek, Pediatrics, Wall Street Journal.)  Periodicals are also called serials.  Most periodicals are published as hard-copy publications; the articles in these publications are often available online in "HTML Full Text" or "PDF Full Text."  Some publications, such as Salon.com, are completely and solely online.  

Articles in periodicals range from the incredibly bizarre stories in supermarket tabloids like Weekly World News to the gravely serious reports in publications such as Journal of Cancer Research and Clinical Oncology.   As was indicated in the Scholarly? section of this tutorial, faculty generally want you to find articles from substantive magazines and/or professional and scholarly journals.

The two research databases linked from the library homepage, Academic Search Complete and LexisNexis, provide online articles from popular/general, substantive/trade, and professional/scholarly periodicals.  These can be great databases for beginning your research, but if you are looking specifically for professional/scholarly articles, a subject-specific research database (such as ProQuest Nursing and Allied Health or Business Source Complete) will probably provide better results.

If you know the title of the periodical in which an article appears, you can use our E-Journal Finder to locate a database that provides the full text online. 

Articles in Popular/General and Substantive/Trade Periodicals
Trendy periodicals that are available at newsstands (publications like Cosmopolitan, Good Housekeeping, Men's Health, or Sports Illustrated) are categorized as popular, general audience, or consumer magazines.  These publications are described as "light" reading. 

Periodicals such as National Review, The New Republic, Newsweek, or Time that provide longer and more serious articles may be described as substantive.  Although the articles in these magazines may be quite lengthy and of considerable intellectual merit, they are not scholarly publications.  

Trade periodicals serve an audience in a particular industry or profession by providing news and opinions of interest to that industry or profession.  These publications (such as Chemical & Engineering News, Education Week, The Financial Times, OT Practice, Plastics News, and RN) may have very sophisticated articles; however, as with substantive periodicals, these are not scholarly publications. 

Articles in Professional and Scholarly Journals
Professional and scholarly periodical articles are published in periodicals that are categorized as professional and scholarly journals. 

Professional and scholarly articles are written by professionals or scholars within the field and are intended for a professional or scholarly audience within the same field. 

Oftentimes, you can guess that an article is professional or scholarly simply by reading its title.  In this example, "The Behavior of Labrador Retrievers in Suburban Backyards: The Relationships between the Backyard Environment and Dog Behaviour," the very deliberate use of specific technical language to indicate what the article is about is a marker of the professional/scholarly article.

Format of the Professional and Scholarly Article
Professional and scholarly articles are generally easy to identify because they are written to conform to specific standards of presentation.  Although the format may differ somewhat from one journal to another, you will quickly recognize the following elements.

Professional and scholarly articles generally include an abstract or summary preceding the text of the article that indicates in a nutshell what the article is about.  Reading the abstract will give you a good indication of the relevance of the article to your research -- so reading the abstract can save you lots of time! 

The authors' institutional and contact information (addresses, telephone numbers, email addresses) will often be given on the first page of the article. 

Articles generally begin with an introduction that includes a review of the literature. This review includes references to work previously published or presented on this subject.

Following the introduction, the authors present their research question in more detail, outline the process that they used in their research, report their findings, discuss the implications of what they have ascertained, and furnish a list of references.  Many articles, especially in the sciences, medical sciences, mathematics, and technology are written in a particular format referred to as IMRD, in which

• I = Introduction (an overview of the topic and information about previous research)
• M = Methods, Methodology, and/or Materials (a description of the investigation that the authors undertook)
• R = Results (what the authors found out during the investigation; the data the authors gathered)
• D = Discussion (the implications of what the data reveal; the author's interpretation of the information gathered)

A fifth section of text, the Conclusion, is included is some articles.

Most scholarly articles end with a bibliography.  The bibliography may be labeled "References," "Works Cited," "Footnotes," etc., but it will always be a list of the works the authors cited in the article. 

Peer Review
Journals that require that articles be examined by scholars or other experts prior to publication are designated as “peer reviewed,”  “refereed,” “juried,” or “blind reviewed.”   Our library webpage, Types of Periodical Literature and Peer Reviewed Articles, shows how to use Ulrich's Periodicals Directory to determine if a periodical is a scholarly journal that is peer reviewed.  You may also download our Word document, "My Resource is Professional or Scholarly If..."

Types of Professional and Scholarly Articles
Professional/scholarly articles can be categorized by the following kinds of inquiry and discussion: 

• Research articles
  • Reports of original research/empirical studies
• Review articles
  • Critical analysis or evaluation of published materials that summarize and integrate the state of current knowledge and may suggest new directions for research
• Theoretical articles
  • Presentations of new theories or interpretations and/or disputations of older ideas
• Book reviews

To go to the next page in the Research Strategies tutorial, click Databases I. 

Get help via IM, Chat With a Librarian, email (Reference_Services@Shawnee.edu), or by phoning (740.351.3321).  

If you prefer face-to-face assistance, stop by the Clark Memorial Library Reference Counter or schedule a Research Consultation with a Reference Librarian.