The articles found within periodicals are called periodical articles. Examples of periodicals include:
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popular magazines - Popular magazines are written for the general public with the purpose of informing and entertaining. Newsweek, Time, and Ebony are examples of popular magazines. Because of their easy reading style, magazines may be a good starting point in understanding a topic.
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scholarly journals - Scholarly journals typically have articles written by authorities in the field. They may report research or provide a scholarly discussion of a topic. They usually include bibliographies. For most college level papers, you should rely more heavily on articles from scholarly journals.
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peer-reviewed (refereed) journals - Scholarly journal articles are reviewed by experts on the topic before being accepted for publication. Some scholarly journals do not have a peer review process, but have an editorial board that reviews articles to judge their quality before acceptance for publication. Both peer review and editorial board review are indicators of high quality.
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newspapers - Newspapers provide accounts of current events and can show trends of public opinion. Older issues of newspapers provide a record of past ideas, problems, and events.
