Popular magazines are written in a non-technical language that is easier for the average person to understand. Articles are generally written by a staff writer or journalist and the information covered is not as in-depth as in scholarly journals. Popular magazines usually have pictures and a more glossy look them. Articles may or may not be signed or include references. Most popular magazines have plenty of advertisements.

Some popular magazines are highly respected. Business Week and Forbes are important journals for Management majors and others, but are considered popular magazines. Other examples include Scientific American and the New Republic.  Most disciplines have a few of these kinds of publications.

Trade magazines are written for people in a particular industry and cover industry trends, now products, etc. Their style is usually glossy and they have pictures. Articles may be written by staff or contributing authors and there will be some editorial review. You will sometimes find short bibliographies. They frequently contain advertisements but most will be trade related.

Newsletters contain information about mostly current information or topics in a given field. They may contain articles that are educational and contain a few references but the information published there is usually more of a current awareness type rather than rigorous scholarly research.

Gray Literature is a term that refers to several types of materials that are not commercially published and may be more difficult to locate than scholarly journals. Examples of Gray Literature include technical reports, working papers, business documents, and conference proceedings which may or may not be peer reviewed. Many of these are somewhat ephemeral and are only available for short periods of time, but they are frequently referenced in scholarly articles and dissertations. In recent years, this type of publication has become more frequently available over the web.

Newspapers are usually published on a daily or weekly schedule and their purpose is to share current news and issues. They occasionally report newly released research or topical stories, but these are written by reporters usually employed by the newspaper and in most cases reviewed by an editor. Reports of research found in newspapers are not reviewed by other researchers who are knowledgable in a field.