12 Basic IQ Skills: Popular vs. Scholarly

Periodicals and Peer-review

The four pillars of IQ!

• Find• Retrieve • Analyze• Use

Determining if a source is popular or scholarly is part of the “Analyze” area.

What are periodicals?

• Any publication that is released “periodically”– Magazines– Newspapers– Journals– Trade publications

Scholarly PopularAuthor An expert in the field, often an

academic. Lists credentials in a brief biographical statement.

A journalist, may not even be credited

Length Longer and more in-depth Shorter and more general

Sources Provides a bibliography of sources cited Acknowledges quotes but does not cite sources

Intent To explore a scholarly topic, research project, or other academic topic

To entertain or inform a broad audience

Presentation Illustrations limited to graphs and tables, straightforward and plain

Glossy paper with photographs and other illustrations

Audience Academics, researchers, and other experts

General public

Language Academic language; uses specialized vocabulary from the discipline

Accessible language, avoids jargon

Editing andPublication

Articles are reviewed by a jury of academic peers before acceptance for publication (peer-review)

Articles are reviewed by the editor of the magazine.

What is peer-review?

• “A process by which submitted manuscripts are evaluated by scholars in the subject discipline in order to determine whether they are worthy to be published” (Badke, p. 10).

Where can I find periodicals in the library?

• Reading room (current periodicals)

• In the stacks (bound periodicals)

• Full-text online through the library’s subscription databases.

Using EBSCO A-to-Z

EBSCO A-Z

Peer Review in our databases

Peer Review in our databases

Sources and Resources

– William B. Badke, Research Strategies: Finding Your Way Through the Information Fog, 3rd ed., New York: iUniverse, Inc., 2008

– Scholarly Journals v. Popular Magazine Articles (UTSA Libraries): http://lib.utsa.edu/Research/Subject/scholarlyguide.html

– Scholarly Journals, Trade Publications, and Popular Magazines (ProQuest): http://training.proquest.com/trc/training/en/peervsscholarly.pdf

Questions?

libraryiq@austinseminary.edu