ANSC 5220 : Types of Articles

This page provides a brief overview of different types of articles. For more complete information on criteria that can be used to evaluate journals, news sources and magazines consult the library guide on Distinguishing Scholarly from Non-Scholarly Periodicals created by Michael Engle, a research librarian at Olin Library on Cornell's campus.

Here are just a few (of the thousands) scholarly journals in animal science and life sciences -- all of them available online through Cornell. Browsing the issues in journals in your field is just one more way to find articles -- just not a very efficient approach if you are looking for a very specific topic! 

Journal of Dairy Science

Journal of Mammalogy

PLoS Biology

Biological Reviews

Bioscience

Quarterly Review of Biology

Scholarly journals are also called academic, peer-reviewed, or refereed journals. Strictly speaking, peer-reviewed (also called refereed) journals refer only to those scholarly journals that submit articles to several other scholars, experts, or academics (peers) in the field for review and comment. These reviewers must agree that the article represents properly conducted original research or writing before it can be published.

To check if a journal is peer-reviewed/refereed, search the journal by title in Ulrich's Periodical Directory--look for the referee jersey icon. More on peer-reviewed journals from the University of Texas.

Trade journals are publications focused on a narrow subject, industry or profession. Trade publications can give you the perspective of a specific group of stakeholders. Articles tend to be brief and trade journals include color photographs and ads. Although some trade publications have the word "journal" in the title, they are not considered scholarly publications. Just a few examples of trade publications: Livestock, Advertising Age, Farm Journal, The Grocer.

Substantive News and General Interest publications vary in their format focus on providing information, in a general manner, to a broad, educated audience. Some cite sources, most most do not. Articles may be written by a member of the editorial staff, a scholar or a free lance writer. In news sources, the author is listed as a byline. Authors of articles in this category are held accountable for their reporting.

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.

In your research, there are many publication types that you will come across, each with different value in the research process.  

• Review - An article type that looks at other research in the field and summarizes that research for the reader.  High quality reviews will be systematic in nature in an effort to remove bias from the article selection process.  Look here for more details on different types of Review Articles: https://guides.library.cornell.edu/evidence-synthesis/types 
• Original Research - A research study usually designed by the articles author(s).  Original Research articles will often have a methodology, results, and discussion sections to explain the study in detail.  They can be difficult to read at times because they will assume a base level of knowledge (including "jargon") in the field of study covered by the article. 
• Technical Reports - Technical Reports can vary widely, but often they offer a real world application to the research discussed in Reviews and Original Research articles.
• Trade Publications - Articles written for practitioners of a specific trade.  Trade publications are usually designed to quickly report on topics of importance in that field.  They are not usually as intensely researched or reviewed as most of the above publication types.
• Popular Publications - Articles written for the general public.  These articles are generally much easier to read than the above publication types. 
• Non-traditional publications - For example, Blogs, social media posts or websites.  These are generally intended as a form of communication with minimal (if any) editorial processes.  While these can serve as a nice medium for communication of ideas and conversation, particularly if the author is an expert in the field, they generally will not be used in formal research-based practices and publications.
• News - Usually designed for quick release and quick absorption of content.  News is usually better for learning about what is new and important in a field of study than it is as a source for high quality research.  There are generally four types of research content:
  • Event Reporting - Simply reporting the facts of an event that has happened or is happening.  By far the least biased type of news content.
  • Analysis - Using context to add some explanation for why events may be happening.
  • Opinion/Editorial - Journalists/reporters offering their opinions about why events may be happening and what the significance may be of those events.  Opinions/Editorials are notoriously very biased, and should be used particularly cautiously. 
  • Other/Features - For example, profiles, interviews, press releases, investigative journalism. These are usually either primary in nature, or involve substantially more research than Analysis or Opinion/Editorials.  That said, these can still be very biased because authors can be very selective in what type of content they gather and use.

You've been asked to find at least one primary research articles. Primary sources in this case:

• are original scientific reports of new research findings
• usually include the following sections: Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, References
• are peer-reviewed (examined by expert(s) in the field before publication).

You may also choose to use some secondary sources (summaries or interpretations of original research) such as books (consult the E-Books section) or review articles (articles which organize and critically analyze the research of others on a topic).

These secondary sources are often useful and easier-to-read summaries of research in an area. Additionally, you can use the listed references to find useful primary research articles. See the E-Book tab in this ANSC guide to get more information on reference books that are useful for background information on a topic.