Journal Vs. Website Essay

Mary Ogden
LIBY 1210
March 17th, 2009



Journals Vs. Websites.



Journal articles and articles you will find on websites are two totally different

things. Articles you find on websites can be very different things. Many websites are ran

by news companies and all of the information found on those websites are news articles

written by reporters. Other websites with articles on them are blogs like myspace or what

we use for this class. Blog articles can be written by anyone who has access to a

computer. Overall articles you will find on websites are some ones opinion, they have no

research to back them up, and they have not been reviewed by a group of experts on the

subject being written on. Journal articles are very different from website articles. Journal

articles are written by professionals, who have a degree or extensive background in the

subject. All of the information in a journal article has research to back up all of the facts

being presented in the article. The main difference is the fact that all journal articles are

peer-reviewed by a group of peers who are also professionals on that subject.

Website articles are good places to find information from a non-expert in the field

you are searching for. Many news companies will start websites so they can publish the

news they report. ESPN, New York Times and CNN all have their own websites with

their own articles on the news they are reporting. The articles they publish on these

websites are usually someone’s opinions or they are just a retelling of the facts. These

articles are not written by anyone who has a degree in the field they are writing about.

Most of the time the people writing these articles are just common reporters and very

little of the information in the article is factual. Articles off a website are not good to use

when sitting a source in a paper. Because the web articles are not peer-reviewed and the

information is usually opinion it is not a reliable source to site.

Journal articles on the other hand are great places to get a source for a paper.

Journals are a book of articles all on the same subject. Different degreed professionals of

the field the journal is covering write these articles in the journals. Most of these people

have a Masters in the subject they are covering. Getting an article in a journal is much

more difficult then on a website. Journal articles are reviewed by three or four other

experts in the field and the article must get a yes from those reviewing it before it can be

submitted to the journal. Very few articles are allowed in the journal and event fewer get

in on their first attempt. In fact only about 10% of journal articles are allowed in on their

first try. The authors of the journal articles do extensive research on what they are writing

about before they write their article. Journal articles are professional articles and are great

sources of reliable information.

Journal articles and website articles are very different sources of information.

Website is a very unreliable and almost all the articles on them are either opinion of just a

retelling of an event. You should try and avoid using websites as sources when writing a

paper. Journal articles are written by professionals in the field being covered and these

people usually have Master degrees in the field. The information being presented has

been researched and studied by the authors of the articles. Journal articles are great places

to find solid information when writing a paper.