Embedded Files
There are some other types of periodicals (information sources that are published at regular intervals) that aren't created for a wide, general audience, like news outlets are.
MAGAZINES ABOUT A TOPIC (need to investigate)
Some periodicals are magazines devoted a particular topic, like this one.
Clues that help you recognize a magazine are similar to the news outlet clues:
Different sections, names of authors, dates of publication, link to "Subscribe"
They only provide a limited number of free articles, another clue this organization is a professional provider of information.
You can investigate the magazine organization's track record for reporting fairly and accurately:
Look for a Wikipedia page with clues
Search for them on the Ad Fontes chart or Media Bias/Fact Check
You can also investigate the individuals who wrote the article.
TRADE JOURNALS (usually OK for school research)
Some periodicals are not only focused on a specific topic but also a specific audience: people in a particular profession. These are called "trade journals" and they're usually the publication of a particular professional organization.
This example has clues that are similar to the clues identifying a magazine above. But it also has these clues that indicate it's published for people in a particular membership group:
Links to "Become a Member" and "Jobs" (because people visit this information source to find out about getting a job in the field)
Trade journals are meant for people who work in the field to learn more about it, while trade associations' publications are meant to promote a particular business to the general public.
Trade journals are created by experts on the topic and they tend not to stay in business if they report unfairly or inaccurately.
ACADEMIC JOURNALS (usually good for school research but not written for pre-college students)
Academic journals (aka scholarly journals, peer-reviewed journals) are for an even more specialized audience: academics (university students, professors, and researchers).
Clues to help you recognize them include:
In addition to the publication date, there's usually a "digital object identifier" link that starts with doi.org
There's usually an "abstract" (a summary of the article)
It's often hard to access the whole article unless your school has a database you can use
Academic articles are written by experts on the topic so surely they are great information sources to use for a school research project, right?
Actually, there are a few reasons you might NOT want to use them--unless a teacher has a specific reason for you to do so.
Academic articles are usually about an extremely specific aspect of a topic, such as the results of one study, as opposed to a more general view of the topic, which is what you're more likely to need
They use discipline-specific academic vocabulary which may make it hard to read
And not every journal (or peer review process) is as credible as it claims to be
You can look for a journal's "impact factor" to help determine its credibility.
Or you can wait until you're in college to tackle them :)
Return to the "Home" page -->
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse