Bolaji Mudashiru Adedamola

Scholarly or Popular: Why Does It Matter?


For most people, magazines are journals and journals are magazines. It seems right, but it feels really wrong to jumble them together and consider them as the same thing. There is a big difference between a magazine and a journal and it’s very important to know which is which. Journal articles are more about scholarly articles that are used as references in many thesis and research papers. It provides an analysis of a particular research topic. When writing a journal article, a specific journal article format is used. Popular magazines or publications on the other hand are not very specific with how their articles are written. The writer is free to use whatever article writing style they prefer. A few examples of popular magazines are National Geographic, Vogue, Time Magazine, and Newsweek.

By knowing the differences between the two types of publications, you’ll be able to choose and use the reference material that is appropriate for the paper your are writing.