| |
Popular |
Trade |
Scholarly |
| Author |
Journalists, freelance writers, commentators, sometimes anonymous. |
Practitioners or specialists in field or industry or journalists with subject expertise |
Researchers,scientists,scholars. Credentials listed |
| Audience |
General public |
Specific industry, trade, organization, or profession; jargon often used |
Other scholars, professionals, or students familiar with the field |
| Purpose |
Inform, entertain |
Describe issues, problems, or trends in the field; product information, forecasts, statistics. |
Report and share original research, experiments, theories; contribute to the body of knowledge about a particular subject |
| Citations |
Sources may be cited or identified, but usually not or obscure |
Practices vary; some cite sources and some do not |
Authors cite their sources with in-text citations, in footnotes or bibliographies, often extensive |
| Peer-Review |
No. Editors look for grammar, errors, plagiarism |
No. Similar to popular magazines. |
Yes. Extensive peer-review process. |
| Abstract |
No |
No, but there might be a summary |
Yes. Summarizing paragraph before the article with the authors goals, objectives, results, and analysis. |
| Publisher |
Commercial publisher |
Commercial and trade publishers, professional associations |
Professional organizations, universities, research institutes, scholarly presses |
| Terminology |
Not technical, written for general audience, basic education |
Uses jargon of the field |
Uses technical vocabulary of the discipline; assumes college-educated reader with some knowledge of the subject |
| Examples |
Sports Illustrated; Newsweek; Rolling Stone, National Geographic |
RN, Advertising Age, Modern Machine Shop, Progressive Grocer |
Journal of Cultural Geography, Developmental Psychology, Renaissance Quarterly, Biochemistry |