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Research Project

Use this in whole or in part to guide you in creating a great research project.

Scholarly vs. Popular

Watch this tutorial describing the differences between scholarly and popular periodicals. 

Scholarly Journals

Here is a quick checklist of criteria to help you determine if a resource is scholarly:

  • Author and author's affiliation are always listed.
  • Article uses technical, specialized vocabulary.   
  • Article reports on experiments, studies or literature reviews.
  • Article uses graphs, tables, data.    
  • Article always includes footnotes or citations.

Professional / Trade Journals

Here is a quick checklist of criteria to help you determine if a resource is Professional or Trade:

  • Article length varies.
  • Citations or footnotes are optional.
  • Article may provide author's names or may be anonymous.
  •  Audience for article is specific, not general.
  • Advertising may be geared to a special audience.

Popular Magazines / News

Here is a quick checklist of criteria to help you determine if a resource is popular:

  • Article length is short (1-5 pages).
  • References/citations/footnotes are NOT present.
  • Articles may be anonymous.
  • Vocabulary is conversational.
  • Graphics are frequent for eye-catching look.
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