Media Industries and Trends: Home

Scholarly Article (Academic Journal) from Mass Communication and Society found in the Communication & Mass Media Complete Database

Popular Article (Newspaper) from the Hartford Courant found in the Hartford Courant Database

Trade article from Women's Wear Daily found in the ABI/Inform database.

Scholarly vs. Trade vs. Popular Articles
This interactive tutorial lets you explore the differences among scholarly, trade and popular articles and publications. There is no sound. You can click the arrow at the bottom of the player to advance in the sequence or you can click pan and zoom in or out throughout the tutorial.

Note below how to distinguish the three types of articles: academic peer-reviewed articles, popular or journalistic articles and trade articles.

Academic peer-reviewed journal articles

• Primary source of information, original research 
• Author(s) conducted the research
• Author affiliation(s) provided, usually academic institutions
• Firsthand report of research
• Many have an abstract
• Audience - academic communities, researchers and scholars
• Bibliography included (use to identify additional articles)
• Peer review of articles for publication (other scholars in that discipline review the article content)

Examples: Critical Studies in Media Communication, Journal of Communication, Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, Media Culture & Society, and Public Relations Quarterly 

Trade articles

• Current information on an industry concerning careers, companies, individuals, the profession, trends, outlook, etc.
• Published frequently, many weekly
• Audience -  industry professionals
• No abstract
• No bibliography 
• No peer review

Examples: Advertising Age, Billboard, Broadcasting & Cable, Columbia Journalism Review, Mediaweek, PR Week and Street & Smith's SportsBusiness Journal

Popular or journalistic articles

• News and general articles about contemporary topics
• Magazines and Newspapers fall into this category
• Audience - general public
• Secondary source of information about academic/scholarly research
• Author(s) did not conduct the academic/scholarly research
• No abstract
• No bibliography at end of article
• No peer review (editor or editorial board but not scholars)

Examples: Atlantic Monthly, Entertainment Weekly, LA Times, Money, New York Times, Newsweek, People, Sports Illustrated, and Time