Popular magazines come in many formats, although often slick and attractive in appearance with lots of color graphics (photographs, drawings, etc.). These publications do not cite sources in a bibliography. Information published in popular periodicals is often second or third hand and the original source is rarely mentioned. Articles are usually very short and written in simple language.
The main purpose of popular periodicals is to entertain the reader, to sell products (their own or their advertisers), or to promote a viewpoint.
Examples of Popular magazines (all available at ECC in print or EBSCO)
Parents (print)
People (print)
Real Simple (print)
Sports Illustrated (print)
Muscle & Fitness (EBSCO)
Entertainment Weekly (EBSCO)
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CRITERIA |
POPULAR MAGAZINE |
|
Content |
Secondary discussion of someone else's research; may include personal narrative or opinion; general information, purpose is to entertain or inform. |
|
Author |
Author is frequently a journalist paid to write articles, may or may not have subject expertise. |
|
Audience |
General public; the interested non-specialist. |
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Language |
Vocabulary in general usage; easily understandable to most readers. |
|
Graphics |
Graphs, charts and tables; lots of glossy advertisements and photographs. |
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Layout & Organization |
Informal; may include non-standard formatting. May not present supporting evidence or a conclusion. |
|
Accountability |
Articles are evaluated by editorial staff, not experts in the field; edited for format and style. |
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Sources |
Rare. Little, if any, information about source materials is given. |
|
Purpose |
To entertain the reader, to sell products (their own or their advertisers), or to promote a viewpoint. |
|
Paging |
Each issue begins with page 1. |
|
Publication |
Often published by other media sources. |
Chart adapted from http://libguides.ccsu.edu/journals, by Susan Slaga-Metivier at The Elihu Burritt Library at Central CT State University, November 18, 2015.
