Scholarly/Academic/Peer Reviewed Journals

Assumes previous knowledge and includes specialized terminology, articles often include an abstract.  Always include a bibliography.​

Articles can take months to get published and undergo greater scrutiny to ensure they reflect solid scholarship​.

How can you tell from a citation if an article is scholarly/peer reviewed?

• From within library databases, you will see the option to limit to scholarly/peer reviewed/academic journals.
• You can conduct a conduct a Google search and locate the journal's home page.  Look for "About" or information about publication submission.
• You can do a journal title search in a library database titled Ulrichs Web: Global Serials Directory.  You will see a referee icon if the publication is peer reviewed.

Trade Publications

Articles written by practitioners in the field.

Not intended to be scholarly/peer reviewed but rather communicate trends and field specific news.

Often times associated with a professional organization.  For example, Theatre Design & Technology is published by The Association for Performing Arts and Entertainment Professionals.

While you are a student at UofSC, you have access to Theatre Design and Technology as well as other trade publications from University Libraries.

Magazine and Newspaper Sources

Geared to general public​.

Purpose is to inform or entertain​.

Language is accessible, rarely have a bibliography​.

Authors typically reporters or freelance writers. ​

Articles are often under strict deadlines with quick turnaround times; content may or may not have been reviewed by anyone other than the author​.