| Examples |
Sensational periodicals include:
National Enquirer,
Globe, and
Star
|
Popular periodicals include:
People Weekly,
Redbook, and
GQ
|
Substantive News
& General Interest periodicals include:
National Geographic,
Business Week, and
Organic Gardener |
Trade or Technical periodicals include:
Archaeology,
Geotimes, and
Aviation Week & Space Technology
|
Scholarly periodicals include:
JAMA, Harvard Business Review. and
Nature
|
| Layout / Formatting |
Sensational periodicals use eye-grabbing layout and formatting. They're usually published in tabloid newspaper formats. |
Popular periodicals use colorful, attractive layout and formatting |
Substantive News & General Interest publications often use colorful, attractive layout and formatting. |
Trade & Technical periodicals often have a professional appearance without fancy layouts. |
Scholarly periodicals are usually plain in appearance with a formal layout. |
| Images |
Sensational periodicals use a great number of photos & illustrations to get your attention. |
Popular periodicals include:
People Weekly,
Redbook, and
GQ |
Substantive News & General Interest periodicals use photographs & graphics to add visual appeal or explain information. |
Trade & Technical periodicals may have some color or black and white photos & graphics, which tend to be illustrative. |
Scholarly periodicals have minimal, plain graphics used to illustrate or explain information. Color is used sparingly. |
| Advertising |
Sensational periodicals use have extensive advertising for a wide range of products. |
Popular periodicals have a lot of ads for a wide range of products. |
Substantive News & General Interest periodicals have a moderate number of ads related to the publication's topic or target audience. |
Trade & Technical periodicals have a moderate amount of ads for product & services of use in the specific profession or field. |
Scholarly periodicals have no ads or only a few, selective ads targeting other researchers in the field. |
| Language |
Sensational periodicals use plain, easy-to-read language, often with highly emotional tone. |
Popular periodicals use plain, easy-to-read language, and may use a conversational tone. |
Substantive News & General Interest periodicals use plain language, but readability may vary with the intended audience. |
Trade & Technical periodical articles use the terminology and jargon of the field. Readability may vary with the intended audience. |
Scholarly periodicals articles use the terminology or jargon of the discipline area. Articles use formal language and a standardized structure. |
Depth & Breadth of
Publications |
Sensational publications have shallow coverage of a wide variety of topics. |
Popular publications tend to have fairly shallow coverage of a wide variety of topics. |
Substantive News & General Interest publications have shallow to moderate coverage of a more narrowly defined range of topics. |
Trade & Technical periodicals provide shallow to moderate coverage of topics of interest to a particular field. |
The breadth of topical coverage between Scholarly publications varies substantially. |
Depth &
Breadth of
Articles |
Sensational articles are usually shallow in their treatment of their topics. |
Articles in Popular periodicals tend to have a somewhat shallow coverage of their topics. |
Substantive News & General Interest articles provide a shallow to moderate depth exploration of their topics. |
rade & Technical periodical articles provide shallow to moderately in-depth exploration of their topics. |
Articles in Scholarly periodicals usually have an extremely narrow focus, but go into great depth about their topic. |
| Credibility |
Sensational periodicals have little to no credibility. |
Popular publications have limited credibility in the academic context. |
Substantive News & General Interest publications have a low to moderate level of credibility in the academic context. |
Trade & Technical periodical publications have a moderate level of credibility in the academic context. |
Peer-reviewed articles from Scholarly publications have a high level of credibility. |
Intended
Audience |
Sensational periodicals are meant to be read by the general public. |
Popular periodicals are meant to be read by the general public. |
Substantive News & General Interest periodicals tend to be targeted to specific, often educated, sectors of the public. |
Trade & Technical periodicals are targeted for people working in a particular field. |
The primary audience for Scholarly publications are other scholars and practitioners in the same field as the authors. |
|
Article
Length
|
Sensational periodical articles are usually short. |
Popular periodicals articles tend to be short. |
Substantive News & General Interest periodicals tend to have short and medium length articles. |
Trade & Technical periodicals tend to have short and medium length articles. |
Scholarly periodicals tend to have medium to long articles. |
| Citations |
Sensational periodical articles ordinarily do not cite their sources. |
Articles in Popular publications usually cite sources in their text, if at all. |
Articles in Substantive News & General Interest periodicals are authored by staff or free-lance writers. |
Articles in Trade and Technical periodicals usually cite their sources in the text and may provide full citations in a bibliography. |
Scholarly articles provide full citations to their sources, with footnotes or in-text references & a bibliography. These are often extensive. |
| Authors |
Sensational periodical articles are written by staff writers. |
Articles in Popular periodicals are authored by staff or free-lance writers. |
Articles in Substantive News & General Interest periodicals are authored by staff or free-lance writers. |
Articles in Trade & Technical periodicals are usually authored by staff or freelance writers who have worked or are currently working in the field. |
Articles in Scholarly publications are written by scholars or researchers in the field. |
| Purpose |
The purpose of sensational periodical articles is to provide entertainment. |
The purpose of Popular periodical articles is to provide entertainment. |
The purpose of Substantive News & General Interest Periodicals is to provide general information. |
Trade & Technical periodicals provide news & other items (like job ads) for people working in a particular field. |
Trade & Technical periodicals provide news & other items (like job ads) for people working in a particular field. |
| Publishers |
Sensational periodicals are published by commercial enterprises. |
Popular periodicals are published by commercial enterprises. |
Substantive News and General Interest Periodicals are usually published by commercial enterprises. |
Trade & Technical periodicals are often published by professional or trade associations. |
Scholarly publications are often published by professional, trade, or research organizations, or by commercial enterprises. |
Primary /
Secondary
Source |
Sensational periodical articles tend to be secondary sources |
Articles in Popular periodicals tend to be secondary sources. |
Substantive News & General Interest Periodical articles tend to be secondary sources. |
Trade & Technical periodicals articles tend to be secondary sources. |
Scholarly articles reporting original research are primary sources. |
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