Peer Research Consultants

Journals require you to consider numerous factors. These include Purpose, Type of Journal, Organization and Content, Bias, Date, Bibliography, Usefulness, Authority Coverage, Audience, and Illustrations.

Purpose: Why was it written? To:

• Persuade the reader to do something?
  • Such as voting a certain way, purchase something, or attend an event
• Inform the reader?
  • Results of research, how an event went
• Prove something?
  • A method does / does not work, a behavior is good / bad

Type of Journal:

• Scholarly
  • For college-level papers, information should be obtained mostly from this category
  • Contains articles describing high quality research that has been reviewed by experts in the field prior to publication
  • Page enumeration is consecutive throughout volumes
  • Few or no advertisements
  • Black and white pages
  • Examples: Journal of Access Services and Journal of Applied Psychology
• Trade
  • Useful for topics in business or where economic data is needed
  • Good for learning what the current "hot topics" are in an area
  • Page enumeration starts over with page 1 in each issue
  • Advertisements are related only to the field / focus of the journal
  • Glossy pages
  • Examples: APA Monitor and Public Management
• Popular
  • Use sparingly or not at all
  • Page enumeration starts over with page 1 in each issue
  • Heavy advertisements
  • Pictures and illustrations with color
  • Examples: Time and Newsweek

Organization and Content

• Is the material organized and focused?
• Is the argument or presentation understandable?
• Is this original research, a review of previous research, or an informative piece?

Bias (of the publisher): Is the journal:

• Left / Liberal?
• Right / Conservative?
• Center?
• An alternative press?
• Published by a political action (PAC) group?

Date: Some topics, such as health sciences, require current information. Others, such as geology, value both older and current material. Consider if the source is:

• Up-to-date
• Out-of-date
• Timeless

Bibliography:

• Scholarly works always contain the resources consulted
• The list should be in sufficient quantity and be appropriate for the content

Be sure to note:

• Does a bibliography exists?
• How short is the bibliography?
• Is it selective or comprehensive?
• Are the references primary sources (such as journal articles) or only secondary sources (such as encyclopedias)?
• Date / timeliness?
• Is the citation style clear and consistent?

Usefulness

• Is the article relevant to the research topic? It doesn't matter how good it is if it doesn't address the researcher's needs!
• If it is useful, does it
  • Support an argument?
  • Refute an argument?
  • Give examples? (such as survey results, case studies, or primary research findings)
  • Provide "wrong" information that can be challenged or disagreed with productively?

Authority

• Is the author an expert in their field?
• Where is the author employed?
• What else has has he/she/zie written?
• Has the author won any awards or honors?

Coverage

Does the article cover the topic comprehensively, partially, or is it an overview?

Audience: This ties in with the type of journal. Is the article for:

• General readers (such as popular magazines)
• Students - high school, college, graduate
• Specialists (trade magazines) or professionals
• researchers (scholarly journals) or scholars

Illustrations

• Are charts, graphs, maps, photographs, etc. used to illustrate concepts?
• Are the illustrations relevant?
• Are they clear and professional-looking?