COMM 3302: Rhetorical Research Methods

What's a periodical?

A periodical is a magazine, journal, newspaper, or similar item that comes out periodically, i.e. once a week, month, etc.

It's good to be able to distinguish between scholarly and non-scholarly periodicals, especially for more advanced research. See the Scholarly Journals guide for more info.

Magazines Intended for mass market and general public Includes Magazines, trade journals, newspapers and other non-scholarly sources No "Peer Review" process required for publication Often presents general information	Scholarly Journals Scholarly journals are also referred to as "Peer Reviewed" or "Refereed." These are mostly journals (but can be in other formats) Are intended for researchers or scholars in their intended fields. Articles must be reviewed by panel of experts before publishing (aka "Peer Review") Often present original research

If you have a journal and you need to check if it is peer reviewed, use the Ulrich's Periodical Directory database.

Enter the name of the journal in the search bar, then look for the little referee's jersey icon or the line that says "Refereed: Yes." "Refereed" is just another way of saying "peer reviewed," so if you see either or both of those things, your journal is peer reviewed.

If you don't see the icon or if the description of the journal says "Refereed: No," that journal is not peer reviewed.