COMM 110/130 Love: Scholarly Research: Articles

Scholarly articles are written by experts in the field and, additionally, peer reviewed by a panel experts in the field.  They tend to include a lot of research and data, and the information in the article is backed up by a list of references. 

Example of a Journal with Scholarly Articles

Popular articles are often written by journalists for a general audience and are not reviewed by experts in the field.  Popular articles rarely include references.

Example of a Magazine with Popular Articles

Searching the Internet is so easy, but:

• The results aren't organized in the most helpful manner
• Finding quality information is a challenge
  • anyone can put up a website
• It's difficult to find peer-reviewed articles
• Not all websites are updated regularly
• Websites change or disappear
  • retrieving the content later may be impossible
• Some websites cost money to access

Library databases are a better way to search to:

• Find quality information
• Locate articles by subject, author, title, publication, or date
• Limit results to scholarly/peer-reviewed articles
• Combine search terms for better results
• Discover terms to search with
• Find updated information
• Retrieve articles later
  • most material remains in the database
• Cite your sources
  • many contain a citation tool to assist you
• Save time
• Save money--they're free for students, staff & faculty!

International Journal of Communication

Journal of E-Media Studies