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Criteria
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Sensational
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Popular
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Substantive News or
General Interest
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Trade
or
Technical
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Scholarly
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Examples:
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National Enquirer
Globe
Star
|
People Weekly
Redbook
GQ
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National Geographic
Business Week
Organic Gardener
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Archaeology
Geotimes
Aviation Week & Space Technology
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Journal/ Am Medical Assn
Harvard Business Review
Nature
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Layout or Formatting
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Eye-grabbing. Usually published on newsprint.
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Slick paper, lots of color, attractive layout.
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Slick paper, attractive layout.
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Attractive appearance. Slick or plain paper.
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Very plain and serious looking. Typically uses plain paper.
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Images
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A great number of photos & illustrations to get your attention.
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Has many color photographs & graphics to pique your interest.
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Has photographs & graphics to add visual appeal.
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May have some illustrative color or black and white photos & graphics
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Minimal, plain graphics used to illustrate or explain information. Color used sparingly.
|
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Advertising
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Extensive advertising for a wide range of products.
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A great deal of ads for a wide range of products.
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Moderate number of ads for a range of products.
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Moderate product & service ads targeted to a specific profession or field.
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None, or very selective, targeting other scholars.
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Language
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Plain and easy to read.
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Plain language, fairly easy to read.
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Plain language, but often assuming a higher level of education and/or familiarity with the topic.
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Uses terminology and jargon of the field, but less formally.
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Uses terminology, jargon and the language of the discipline area.
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Depth and Breadth of Publications
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Very shallow coverage of a wide variety of topics.
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Fairly shallow coverage of a wide variety of topics.
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Shallow to moderate coverage of a more narrowly defined range of topics.
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Shallow to moderate coverage with topics of interest to a particular field.
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In-depth. Narrow range of topics covered.
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Depth and Breadth of Articles
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Very shallow treatment.
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Fairly shallow.
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Shallow to moderately in-depth exploration of a topic.
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Shallow to moderately in-depth excoriation of a topic.
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Usually extremely narrow in focus as articles go into great depth.
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Credibility
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None.
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Limited.
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Moderate.
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Fairly high.
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Very high, particularly if peer-reviewed.
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Readership
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General public.
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General public.
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Educated public.
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Assumed to have some training in the field.
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Assumed to have a background in the same field.
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Article Length
|
Short.
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Short.
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Short and long.
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Short and long.
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Mostly long.
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Sources Cited
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Sources not cited.
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Sources usually not cited.
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Sometimes cited in the text only.
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Often cited in the text, sometimes with footnotes or a bibliography.
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Extensive citations to sources, with footnotes or text references & bibliography.
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Authors
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Staff writers.
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Staff or free-lance.
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Staff or free-lance.
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Staff or freelance writers working in the field.
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Written by scholars or researchers in the field.
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Purpose
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Provide entertainment.
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Provide entertainment.
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Provide general information.
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Provide news & other items (like job ads) for those in a particular field.
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To report on original research and to advance scholarship in a field.
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Publishers
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Published by commercial enterprises.
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Published by commercial enterprises.
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Usually published by commercial enterprises.
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Often published by professional or trade associations.
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Usually published by professional, trade, or research organizations.
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Primary or Secondary Source?
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Articles are secondary sources.
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Articles are secondary sources.
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Articles are usually secondary sources.
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Articles are mostly secondary sources.
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Articles reporting original research are primary sources.
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Windward Community College Library