What's a Journal?
What's a Magazine?
Journals
- Journals (and articles in journals) focus their content, gearing
it toward a specific, often expert, audience of readers.
For example, these:
Journal of the American Medical Association, The Draft Horse Journal, HortScience,
College Teaching and The Explicator are all usually considered journals.
- The articles
are written by authors with knowledge of and training in the field or discipline
that is discussed (credentials, such as graduate degrees, years of experience--
and usually, both).
- The articles
often show the results of research studies, experiments, or in-depth study of
the literature of a subject.
- The articles
are set up (formatted) in a specific way, sometimes with headings (i.e., methods,
literature review, discussion, conclusions) and are usually not illustrated,
although they may include diagrams, equations, or tables. This is less true
in the humanities than in the sciences or social sciences.
- The sources
that the authors use to support their work are almost always cited or listed.
- Journals may
be refereed or peer-reviewed. This means that a committee or group of people
who work and write in the specific field have judged the articles to be worth
publishing.
- Journals often
have "journal" or "review" in their titles (i.e., The Journal of Education,
James Joyce Review, Water Resources Journal, etc.).
Some publications
fall between the two groups, such as Scientific American, which is directed
at a broader audience than most journals, while the content is more specifically
focused (on science) and more technical than most magazines. The format
of a publication, i.e., whether it is printed or electronic, is NOT a distinguishing
feature between journals and magazines.
Magazines
- Magazines
are intended for a broad, general audience of readers (i.e., Time, Newsweek,
Utne Reader, People Weekly, Popular Science).
- The articles
are written by writers who work for the publisher and who may or may not have
training in the field they discuss.
- The articles
are set up in a visually pleasing, informal style. They are often illustrated.
- The editor
and publisher are the only people who judge the articles before they are printed.
Read critically.
Journal articles and magazines articles are appropriate for particular purposes.
Even in journal articles, not everything is necessarily true. See Ellen
Altman and Peter Hernon's 1997 book, Research Misconduct: Issues, Implications
and Strategies, for more information.
How
to find articles using databases 
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