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Course Info
Instructor
Course
goals
What
you will need
Course
policies
Disabilities
Schedule
(for Fall 2004)
Course Index
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One of the
useful print outs available for students at the TC3 library charts four
different kinds of periodicals
(meaning publications that are printed periodically, such as magazines
and journals). The chart (reproduced crudely below) helps us to classify
sources according to their academic research value.
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SCHOLARLY |
PROFESSIONAL
or TRADE
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SUBSTANTIVE |
POPULAR |
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What's
the Purpose?
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Communication
between researchers
in an academic discipline
(e.g. physics, psychology, education, history, literature).
Advancement of knowledge. |
Communication
between
people who share in
a profession (e.g. teacher,
banker, office manager, restaurant owner)
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Making money through advertising to the educated public.
Providing important
or interesting
ideas in the sciences, arts, politics and culture.
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Making
money through advertising to mass audiences. Entertaining the general
public. |
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Who
are the authors? |
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Researchers,
usually academics
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Professionals who work in the
profession or trade.
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In
general reporters or professional writers
who have researched the issue
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Usually,
staff writers working under tight deadlines.
Articles are often anonymous.
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Who's
the Audience?
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Other
researchers, scholars and other experts who need to keep up with new developments (e.g. a
substance abuse counselor might subscribe to a journal of recent
research)
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People
who work in the field
addressed.
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General
public rather than specialists.
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General
public rather than specialists.
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What's
the Style?
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Formal,
may use technical
language those outside the discipline would not understand. Most
often reports the results of an experiment or investigation.
Other articles may be more theoretical.
Few
graphics. No ads.
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May
be formal or informal. May use jargon specific
to the trade that outsiders wouldn't understand.
Graphic
style varies from typed newsletters to fullcolor glossies. |
Written
for people with strong
vocabularies and reading comprehension.
Interesting
graphic presentations. Extensive advertising.
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Generally
easy rending, very brief texts with relatively simple
vocabulary.
Strong
graphic layout. Graphics may take more space than text. Full of
ads.
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How
are sources handled? |
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Sources
are cited. Articles include lengthy lists of references to
previous research on the topic.
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Few sources are
cited. Occasionally a few footnotes and references are used.
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No
citations. But stories often reveal names of persons who
have provided information for the article.
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No
citations. Sources are often anonymous. Gossip format often is
used: "A high ranking government official tells us."
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Who's the
Publisher?
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Professional societies
such as the Society for Research in Child
Development. Or specialized publishers like University presses
that publish only scholarly journals. |
Trade
associations and business organizations.
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Commercial
publishers.
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Commercial
publishers.
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| What
are the Uses for Students? |
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Acceptable and
often required for college research papers. Get acquainted with
scholarly journals to see where research in your field is headed. Begin
by reading abstracts (summaries at the beginning of the article); you
can learn more from reading ten abstracts than from struggling through
one 20-page study.
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Generally
acceptable for use in college research papers, but often
the evidence cited is anecdotal (stories about one person's or
organization's experience) rather than research-based. Can you
find any research to support it?
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Can
provide leads to experts and stimulate general ideas to research
in more serious sources. Be sure to find some original research to
accompany these articles. |
In
general, not acceptable for college research papers. Said what?
Not acceptable for college research papers. What?
Not acceptable for college research papers. |
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What
are some examples? |
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Human
Communication Research,
Rand Journal of Economics, Journal of Research in Music Education,
Journal of Molecular Structure
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American
Teacher, Aviation Week & Space
Technology, Hotel & Motel Management
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Scientific
American, Smithsonian, National
Geographic, Science News, American Spectator
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Redbook,
Parents, People Weekly, Reader's
Digest, Sports Illustrated, Time, Newsweek.
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Dr. G's comment:
Daily newspapers and
weekly magazines fall mostly in the "Popular" category,
although a few for special audiences may be considered
"Substantive." In journalism, the time pressures under which
writers must work are severe, so few journalists can become
"experts" in the subjects that they write about, and real
depth of reporting is rare. A journalist can arrive on the scene of a
fire and quickly become the best source of information for that
particular scene, but that doesn't mean she's also the best source of
information about firefighting equipment, causes of fires, or fire
safety codes for buildings. If she dabbles in these subjects in her
report about the fire, she will have to rely on what other people say,
and she will have little knowledge by which to evaluate their testimony.
Fire chief: "If we had the latest model fire truck, this
building might have been saved."
Tenant: "The damn landlord never fixed the electric."
Building inspector: "More regulation is needed to avoid future
tragedies like this."
All of these stories could sell papers! But will they be true stories?
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MLA
citation makes distinctions between "journals" and
"magazines." In general, for citation purposes, treat
scholarly, professional and trade periodicals as journals. and treat the
rest as magazines. The distinction really has to do with whether the
periodical issues
eventually get bound in hard cover form as volumes
(in which case the periodical is a journal)
or whether the issues remain only in paperback (a magazine).
The idea is that journals hold lasting knowledge while magazines have
only ephemeral use.
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In
popular culture "academic" is a slur adjective meaning
"pointless" or "trivial," so it's only fair that in
academic culture "popular" means the same thing. Newcomers to
college often are surprised to learn what sources are considered to be
unreliable in academic circles. Sources trusted by the population at
large may be distrusted and even scorned by academics.