Academic | Trade | Popular | |
Content | Original research and experimentation | Industry/trade trends, products, and news | Current events, opinions, and general information |
Look | Plain, long articles, may contain charts and graphs | Glossy, contains photos and industry/trade related advertisements | Glossy, contains color photos and everyday product advertisements |
Authors | Experts in their field | Industry specialists or staff writers | Journalists/reporters, staff or freelance writers |
Audience | Professors, researchers, students | Members of the particular industry or trade | Anyone |
Language | Academic and technical | Jargon of the industry | Written in a language for anyone to understand |
Documentation | Footnotes or bibliography | Occasionally contain cited sources | References may be mentioned in text |
Research articles are also often known as scientific or peer-reviewed articles. If the article is NOT written by the person or group who did the research, it is NOT a peer-reviewed or scientific article. Research articles are important for knowing what new discoveries have been made. This is why it is important to use recent articles, since they will be the first things published on a new scientific development.
Here's a quick overview of how to identify these journal articles:
RefWorks is a new way to collect, manage, and organize research. You can read, annotate, organize, and cite your research as well as collaborate by sharing collections.
From simple bibliographies to papers formatted with in-text citations or footnotes, RefWorks handles it all. To learn more about RefWorks, use our RefWorks research guide.
To create a RefWorks account:
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