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HDFS 101 Individual and Family Development and Well-Being: Lifespan

Lifespan of Human Development

Magazines vs. Journals: What's the difference?

Journal cover   Scholarly Journals

  • Authors are experts/authorities in their fields.
  • Authors cite their sources in endnotes, footnotes, or bibliographies.
  • Individual issues have little or no advertising.
  • Articles must go through a peer-review process (experts in the discipline evaluate each author's work before any articles are published).
  • Articles are usually reports on scholarly research.
  • Illustrations usually take the form of charts and graphs.
  • Articles use jargon of the discipline.
  • Articles are typically five or more pages in length.

Time Magazine   Popular Magazines

  • Authors are magazine staff members/regular columnists or free lance writers.
  • Authors often mention sources, but rarely formally cite them in bibliographies.
  • Individual issues contain numerous advertisements.
  • There is no peer review process.
  • Articles are meant to inform and entertain (thus they are also thought of as consumer publications because they are published for a wide audience).
  • Illustrations are numerous and colorful.
  • Language is geared to the general adult audience (no specialized knowledge of jargon needed).
  • Articles are typically fairly short (one or two columns to one or a few pages).

Subject specific databases for finding research articles, and more.

Search these databases for research articles and more on your topics.  If you need peer-reviewed articles, look for the feature in each database to limit to peer-reviewed.