A student may ask us:

I want to cite an article in my academic research paper, but I do not know if it is from a journal, magazine, or newspaper. How can I find out?

We might reply:

By looking at the article.

To be absolutely sure if an article is from a magazine, newspaper or journal, we can do an internet search for the title of the periodical, assuming we know the title of the periodical. The online version of the periodical should feature a link that is titled something like About Us. We can click on that and find the periodical’s official description. If we are still not sure after reading that information, it is always possible to email or ask one of our helpful Thammasat University librarians for their opinion.

If the student wants to know:

What should an English language newspaper article look like?

We may reply:

All TU students are familiar with the Nation and Bangkok Post, and some look at Thailand Business News and other English language newspapers based in the Kingdom. See if the article to be identified resembles what articles in these publications look like. 

If the students never look at the English language press, they might consider doing so, if only because reading it can help their English language skills. To write clearly in a foreign language for an academic research project or thesis, it can help to look at examples of clear writing in newspapers. Newspaper articles tend not to be long, and are usually about subjects that interest the general reader. They are not too specialized and do not require a very extensive vocabulary. Editors at newspapers like to keep things simple, so that readers will not feel confused or need to spend time looking up unfamiliar words. Newspaper articles almost never have many footnotes or other documentation, so if we see footnotes or a bibliography in an article, it almost surely was not printed in a newspaper.

The student may ask:

How can I tell if an English language article was printed in a magazine?

We can answer:

Most TU students have seen some English language magazines, whether about fashion, such as Vogue or Harper’s Bazaar, or popular music, such as NME or Rolling Stone. Fans of K-Pop will know all about K-Soul Magazine, South Korea’s English language K-Pop culture magazine. Does the article in question resemble articles published in these periodicals? 

Again, looking regularly at the websites of such magazines for sanook will not only inform us of the latest trends in international arts and culture, we will also be improving our English language skills. The more we read in English, the better our writing will be. The more fun it is to read English, the more we will want to read it. One big difference between English language articles in magazines and newspapers is that magazines tend to feature more photographs, in larger format, than newspapers. So just by looking at the page design, we can see the difference between the graphic presentation of newspapers and magazines. Otherwise, magazine articles can resemble newspaper articles in that they are in relatively simple, straightforward language and with no footnotes or bibliography.

The student may wish to know:

What is a trade journal?

Our reply would be:

A trade magazine or trade journal is a publication for readers who work in a specific industry. Despending on what faculty they may be studying in, TU students may have seen such English language trade journals as The Mining Journal, Money Management, New Civil Engineer, Nursing Times, or Poultry World.

Articles in trade journals may be somewhat longer than those in popular magazines or newspapers. They may be scholarly, which means they may have footnotes and bibliography, as well as charts or graphs. The words used in trade journals tend to be specialized, since all readers are assumed to have received the same education and be familiar with specific terms.

The student may then want to know:

So how can I tell a trade journal from a peer reviewed scholarly publication?

Our answer would be:

A peer reviewed scholarly publication is more formal than a trade journal. It always has footnotes, bibliography, diagrams, and a full list of contributors, and lists university affiliations.

Articles in peer reviewed scholarly publications are even longer than those in trade journals, around ten pages long instead of five pages. The articles will be about specialized subjects described in great detail, and will usually feature some new discovery or perspective in research. One example would be the Environment and Natural Resources Journal, a peer-reviewed journal freely available online, published biannually by the Faculty of Environment and Resource Studies, Mahidol University. Another would be the Thai Journal of Mathematics, a peer-reviewed, open access international journal publishing research in pure and applied mathematics.

(All images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)