1. What is an article?
A piece of writing on a specific topic, by one or more authors, that forms
an independent part of a periodical publication such as a journal or se-
rial, magazine, or newspaper.
2. Difference between Journals, Magazines and
Newspapers
Journals, magazines, and newspapers are published periodically (daily,
monthly, etc.), so are called periodicals. The key highlights of each are
noted below.
Journals: e.g., Journal of Environmental Health
1. Published for specialists or academic researchers
2. Provide critical analysis and carry references to other works
(footnotes, bibliography, etc.)
Magazines: e.g., Time International
for general reading
ideas about and interpretations of various issues, but lack in-depth or
specialist discussion
Newspapers: e.g., Gulf News
keep you abreast of current events
carry a variety of information such as articles on social issues and
editorial comment
3. What are the differences between articles in scholarly journals and non-
scholarly journal articales?
Element Scholarly journal/periodical article Non-Scholarly magazine article
Purpose To share with other scholars the results of To entertain or inform in a broad,
primary research & experiments. general sense.
Author A respected scholar or researcher in the A journalist or feature writer; names not
field; an expert in the topic; names are always noted.
always noted.
Publisher A professional association; a university or A commercial publisher.
known scholarly publisher.
Publication Experts (peers) in the field (or an outside Writers are often employed by the
Acceptance editorial board) review each article magazine or publisher; acceptance is
submission before publication acceptance; based largely on the topic's consumer
author names are hidden from the appeal.
reviewer in "blind reviews."
Intended Other scholars or researchers in the field, General public.
Audience or those interested in the topic at a
research level.
Content Formal presentation of scholarly work in a Often presented in story format, with
standard style; often an abstract at the anecdotes from other people.
beginning of the article. Articles also have
specific section headings, such as
literature review, methodology, results,
conclusion, and discussion/further study.
Style Language is very formal and technical; Language is casual (high school reading
usually contains discipline-specific jargon. level or lower). Few, if any, technical
terms are used (and if they are, they are
usually defined).
Appearance Very basic layout, usually simple black Often printed on glossy paper with
text on white paper; tables or charts to colored text or headlines; usually
illustrate research components; few, if accompanying photographs and
any, pictures; any advertising is minimal graphics; many advertisements for a
and subject-related, aimed at the academic wide variety of general consumer
or research community. products.
References Standard elements; references are always Very uncommon; text may contain
cited and expected; can be called "works vague referrals to "a study published
cited" or "bibliographies;" text often at..." or "researchers have found that..."
contains footnotes. with no other details about that
information.
Examples JAMA: Journal of the American Medical Newsweek; Rolling Stone; Field &
Association; Journal of Educational Stream
Psychology; Harvard Theological Review
4. Finding an article in full-text databases
A full-text database is a compilation of documents, or other information in
the form of a database, in which the complete text of each referenced docu-
ment is available for online viewing, printing, downloading. In addition to
text documents, images are often included, such as graphs, maps, photos,
and diagrams. A full-text database is searchable by keyword, phrase, or
both.
If you want to search for an article and you
don't know where to start, try Academic
Search Premier.
Locating an articles in specific journals
Retrieve Newspaper Articles
Newspapers are available in print and on the Web.
Print Newspapers
News on the Web
5. Locating articles in specific journals
If you want to search for an article and you don’t know where to start, try
Academic Search Premier.