As you collect articles and books for your paper, you will encounter three different types of resources.

Articles are often a major source of information used for college research. Let’s look at the types you will
encounter often.

The three most common types are scholarly, popular, and trade journals.The characteristics of scholarly
journal articles are:

Peer-reviewed, which means scholars in the same field have approved the article to be published
in the journal. The peer-review process is much more rigorous than the editorial process of a
magazine. You may also see other terms that mean the same thing as peer-reviewed; those are referred, scholarly, or academic.

Article titles tend to be lengthy and written on a post-graduate reading level.

The author’s credentials will be listed on the article and they include information such as degrees
held, current position, and university or institution where they are employed.

Contain an abstract which summarizes the findings of the article.

The body of the article will contain in-text citations.

The audience for the publication are other scholars and college students in the field.

At the end of the article you will find a list of works cited which may also be called the references
or bibliography.

Scholarly books have similar characteristics as scholarly journal articles. They are often published by university presses. 

Written by authors who are experts in their field

they will contain their credentials. Will contain in-text citations and a bibliography.

The second kind of journal articles you will encounter in your research are articles from popular periodicals. These include magazines and newspapers. The characteristics include:

Printed on glossy paper and typically include a lot of pictures

Articles are short; contain numerous advertisements.
The authors are usually journalists who do not have scholarly expertise;
No references will be included;
The audience is the general public;
Writing is on a high-school reading level.

The last type of journal you may encounter are professional trade journals.
The characteristics of these kind of articles include:
May have characteristics of both scholarly and popular journals;
Printed on glossy paper with some advertisements;
Articles focus on news and current issues in the profession;
Credentials of the authors vary widely;
Articles are short, and do not contain references or a bibliography.
Audience is professionals and educators in specific fields;
The writing is on a college reading level.