Evaluating Information

Comparison Chart

	Popular Magazines	Scholarly Journals

	Usually staff or freelance writers	Specialists or experts in their field
	May not be identified	Always named
	Credentials usually not given	Credentials and professional affiliations are usually given
	Not directly involved in the ideas, events, and work they are reporting	Reporting on findings or observations from their original research
	Written for a large general audience	Written for professionals in their field
	Language is non-technical	Language and tone are serious, scholarly, and often technical
	Provides an overview of the subject or information of research previously published in laymen's terms	Earliest reports of research findings
	Usually does not include a bibliography identifying sources	Bibliography almost always included.
	Glossy illustrations used to complemet the article	Illustrations are few but charts and graphs may be used to doucment supporting data
	Many advertisements for popular products	Advertisements are absent or only for products/services of interest to the profession
	Cover is designed to be eye-catching	Cover designed to be informative
	Content is evaluated by editors	Content is evaluated by other experts in the field, referred to as "peer-reviewed"
	Fact-checking is careful, but not extensive	Standards of content and documentation are stringent
	Printed for the entertainment value	Printed to inform industry professionals of latest research findings