Research Starters: COMM 2340 Media Law: Articles & Databases

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Scholarly vs. Non-Scholarly Sources
	Scholarly Journals	Popular Magazines
Purpose	Share results of research with other scholars	Broad appeal Entertain Sell products
Audience	Researchers Academic faculty Students	General public
Authors	Scholars and researchers Experts in the field	Journalist Featured writers
Publisher	Professional associations University publishers Scholarly commercial publishers	Commercial publisher
Appearance	Basic layout Usually black text on white paper Tables or charts Minimal subject-related advertising	Often printed on glossy paper Colored text or headlines Usually has accompanying photographs Many advertisements.
Article Acceptance	Peer-reviewed by experts in the field	Writers usually employed by magazine
Article Length	Often lengthy (approximately 10-30 pages)	Often short (approximately 1-10 pages)
Article Language	College-level Specialized vocabulary or jargon of the discipline	Non-technical Conversational/simple vocabulary
Organization & References	Highly-structured Include abstracts, review of literature, methodology, and citations to sources Always contain a bibliography of references	Loosely-structured Rarely have bibliographies Sometimes informally mention sources
Examples	American Journal of Political Science Policy Studies Review	Congressional Quarterly Weekly Report Time

Journals on Media Law available at OLLU: