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Popular vs. Professional/Trade vs. Scholarly/Peer Reviewed/Refereed Articles

	Popular	Professional/Trade	Scholarly/Peer Reviewed/Refereed
AUDIENCE	Nonspecific; mass audience. No specific knowledge of particular subject is required. Many of these periodicals are sold in the grocery store.	Specific, usually professionals or practitioners of the field covered. though most people may understand material.	Specialized, technical audience; geared toward researchers and professionals in the field with a specific knowledge of subject
WRITERS	Professional writers; usually not trained in field in which they are writing. Writers for these publications usually make their living as writers.	Professional writers who are trained in the field in which they are writing. The writer's credentials may appear. Writers for these publications may make their living as writers.	Scholars, specialists in field; not usually professional writers. The writer's credentials appear. Writers for these publications usually do not make their living as writers.
CONTENT	Non specialized material. Articles are short and no references or bibliographies at end of articles	Specific material, though understandable. Generally policy and action are the focus of articles. Sometimes a few footnotes.	Highly specialized. Many times contains charts/graphs from original research. Frequently contains many footnotes. Devoted to a specific discipline of academia. articles are "signed," typically lengthy and have references (or bibliographies), articles are submitted to a lengthy peer review process, have scholarly book reviews.
LANGUAGE	Junior high reading level. No specialized vocabulary. Uncomplicated writing style.	High-school reading level. Some specialized vocabulary. Fairly uncomplicated writing style.	Learned reading level. Specialized vocabulary. Complicated writing style.
APPEARANCE/ PURPOSE	Slick; lots of photography and advertisements. Intent: to provide consumer level knowledge & entertain.	Usually pretty slick; many advertisements; some photography. Addresses the day-to-day problems of practitioners as distinct from the concerns of academics.	Dull; unattractive; few to no advertisements. Articles report the results of studies and/or research performed by author(s).
EXAMPLES	Parents Sports Illustrated	Principle Leadership Sports'N Spokes: The Magazine for Wheelchair Sports and Recreation	Educational Review Journal of Sport Behavior

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