The Definition of Journal, Journal Article, and Component of Article
- Sandra Intan Sari
- Feb 19, 2020
- 2 min read
Updated: Feb 20, 2020
What is Journal, Journal Article, and Component of Article?
Journal
A journal is a collection of articles (like a magazine) that is published regularly throughout the year. Journals present the most recent research.
Journal Article
Journal articles are quite a bit different, if you have an assignment and your lecturer asks you to use 'journal articles' in your research, you might wonder if it means articles from popular magazines and newspapers. But, journal articles focus on research and written by experts for experts usually scholarly and peer-reviewed. They may be published in print or online formats, or both.
Peer-Reviewed and Scholarly
Peer-Reviewed
When an article is 'peer-reviewed,' it means that other people with the same academic background as the author have reviewed the article. It works like this: a biologist wants to publish the results of some exciting research about how plants respond to music. He writes a paper about it, and then sends it to the peer-reviewed journal where he wants to publish it. The journal editors then send the copies of the paper to other experts ('peers') who closely examine it. When they declare it acceptable, the paper goes to the next stage, which is published as an article in a journal.
Scholarly
The journal articles you use to support your ideas should be scholarly. Here are some tips to help you determine if an article is scholarly:
Check credentials. Does the author have an advanced degree in the field he's writing about? Bibliographic list of sources. The author should provide information about all the data he's used to support his research. The language is formal. The author uses professional terminology and should write in the third person (avoiding 'I,' 'me,' 'you,' etc.) The third-person point of view emphasizes an objective and unbiased tone. Check for bias. If the author stands to gain financially from the research (for example, because of a new drug patent), then look for other journal articles.
Components of Research Articles
A research article typically has the following structure:
Abstract
Introduction
- Literature review
Article text/body
- Method section
- Results section
Discussion Conclusion (may be part of the Discussion section)
References
Sources
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