Magazines and journals are called periodicals because they are issued on a regular or "periodic" basis. Periodicals are usually separated into two major groups: popular and scholarly. If you are able to recognize the differences between a popular and scholarly source, you can focus your research to retrieve only the type of articles you need.

For much of your research, you will rely on scholarly journals, which are also referred to as peer-reviewed or refereed.

Learn more about the differences between popular and scholarly sources on the next page.