Your goal is to find high-quality articles, so you're searching for scholarly, or peer-reviewed, articles.
Peer-reviewed articles are written by scholars and experts in their fields. Here's a quick overview of the peer review process:
| Scholarly/academic | Trade | Popular | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Purpose: | To share original research | To inform, share ideas, or sell something | To inform, persuade, or entertain |
| Written for: | Researchers, scholars, and professionals | People in the business/trade or hobbyists | General public |
| Written by: | Researchers or scholars | Experts or professionals | Journalists or freelance writers |
| Published in: |
Scholarly journals Ex: Journal of Social Psychology |
Trade journals Ex: Education Digest |
Newspapers or magazines Ex: The New York Times |
| Reviewed by: | Unpaid peers (other researchers or scholars in the same field) | Professional/Paid Editors | Professional/Paid Editors |
| Language used: | Academic or technical language; jargon | Some jargon, more everyday language | Plain, everyday language |
| Length: | Long, detailed | Brief, accessible | Brief, accessible |
| Notable features: | Extensive bibliographies, references, or footnotes | References/mentions in text or short bibliographies, advertisements (typically trade-related) | Photos, images, advertisements |
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