UGS 302: Music and Psychology - Domjan

Articles that appear in scholarly, peer-reviewed journals are different than the articles you see in magazines, newspapers and on the Web. 

• Newspapers and magazines have a staff of editors.
  • Why do they choose to publish the articles that they do?
  • Who writes for magazines and newspapers?
  • How do you get access to these publications?
• Academic journals are peer-reviewed before publication.
  • Who writes in these publications?
  • Who decides what gets published in these journals?
  • How do you get access to these publications?
• Think of a source you read on the Web to get news or information.
  • Who writes for that source?
  • Who decides what gets hosted or posted on that site?
  • Do you pay for access to that site?
  • How do they make their money to employ staff and stay up and running?

For all types of sources: 

• Author - are they an expert? An expert in what?
• Publication - who is the audience? How does audience affect what gets published? 
• Relevancy
• Currency
• Citations / references: whom do they cite? Are those reliable sources?
• What else have they written and where was it published?

For scholarly conversations, specifically:

• Why do folks want to get published in these journals?
  • job concerns - getting a job and keeping it
  • participating in the scholarly conversation - journals are the only place it happens
  • the research in journals is the most up to date, the most cutting edge, the newest knowledge on a topic - it's how the field is advanced
• Pay attention to funding - who is paying for this research and are there conflicts of interest? Can the author benefit financially from this research, from his or her claims being accepted?