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SCI 103 - Biology - Ghaemghami

Academic vs Popular Articles and Journals

Purpose

  • Academic: To communicate research and scholarly ideas
  • Popular: To inform and entertain the general reader

Audience

  • Academic: Scholars and students
  • Popular: The general public

Scope

  • Academic: Very narrow and specific subjects
  • Popular: Broad variety of public interest topics, cross disciplinary

Authors

  • Academic: Scholars, researchers, experts, usually listed with their institutional affiliation
  • Popular: Employees of the publication, freelancers (including journalists and scholars)

Characteristics

  • Academic:
  1. Little or no background information given
  2. Technical language and discipline-specific jargon
  3. Peer reviewed
  4. Bibliography/References/Citations included
  5. Procedures and materials often described in detail
  6. Articles are longer, often over 5 pages
  • Popular:
  1. Little technical language or jargon
  2. Few or no cited references
  3. No bibliography
  4. General summaries of background information
  5. Contain numerous advertisements
  6. Articles are usually brief; between 1-7 pages

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