Types of Texts Read in College

Before reading a text, it’s important to consider what type of text it is and where it came from. When completing writing projects for college, in addition to the course texts, you’ll be finding and reading mostly books and periodicals, which include magazines, journals, and newspapers. Some of these texts will be considered public, while others will be academic.

One way to consider the difference between public texts and academic texts is to think about where you won’t find the latter. You generally won’t find academic texts in public places like independent and chain bookstores or your public library. For example, while you’re waiting in line at the grocery store you won’t be tempted by such academic journal titles as Linguistic Typology or the Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics. Such academic, scholarly texts are found through college and university libraries (Chapter 4 discusses finding such sources).

Read more about scholarly vs. non-scholarly sources in the eBook Writing 250 – Writing & Rhetoric Advanced Composition.

Oftentimes when working on research projects for your college classes you won’t be using books but rather periodicals. Your instructors will probably specify, but across all of your classes in college you will probably be finding and reading a combination of scholarly and non-scholarly periodicals. Virginia Tech Libraries, as adapted from the eBook Writing 250 – Writing & Rhetoric Advanced Composition, distinguish among three different types of periodicals: popular magazines, trade journals, and scholarly journals. Read descriptions and a chart that uses three examples to explain several differences among types of periodicals.