Popular periodicals include sources that are
written for general audiences such as magazines
and newspapers
Many of you are probably already familiar
with magazines such as U.S. Weekly, Time,
Forbes, People Weekly and newspapers such
as the New York Times and the Wall Street
Journal.
Popular sources are perhaps the most prevalent
of all the different periodical types.
Depending on the topic, you are studying magazines
and other popular sources such as newspapers
can be extremely useful.
Newspapers are extremely useful when you want
primary source information about historic
or current events.
Also, because they are published often magazines
are useful for finding current information
and opinions on specific topics.
At the same time in some cases, you will want
to avoid popular sources because they are
not peer reviewed or academic in nature.
popular publications are different from scholarly
and trade publications.
One of the major differences is that popular
sources do not cite sources at the end of
an article.
In addition, the cover pages on magazines
and the titles one newspapers are made to
catch an individual’s attention and get
them to read the periodical.
This contrasts with scholarly publications
that have less eye-catching covers and trade
publications that are aimed at a specific
audience.
Popular articles are generally written by
journalists who in some cases have little
to no background writing on their articles
topic.
In other cases individuals who are experts
in a specific field will write in popular
magazines, however, keep in mind that these
articles are not peer reviewed, or reviewed
by other experts in the field.
Due to magazine and newspaper articles not
going through a peer-review process it is
important to evaluate the material presented
in an article.
One of the easiest ways to evaluate these
articles it to look at the primary source
material, or where they got their information.
If an individual, company or project is mentioned
in an article look it up online to see how
the article correlates to what the primary
source says.
In addition, if there are no sources mentioned
in an article look at other sources that cover
the same topic, preferably academic journals.
Compared to scholarly journals and trade publications,
Magazines are usually inexpensive, as such
many public and academic libraries have a
plethora of magazines available for individuals
to use.
You can also find magazines in article databases.
Article databases are especially useful for
finding older editions of magazines that are
no longer available in print.
If you have a question about finding or evaluating
a specific magazine or newspaper ask a librarian
at your local academic or public library.
