It's imperative to recognize the difference between entertainment, journalism and scholarship. 

How Can You Tell the Difference Between Types of Periodicals?
Author	Most articles are signed, though  not all, but little information beyond a name.	Physicists, science writers, journalists. You may have to dig for credentials.	Primarily experts, often university researchers, whose credentials are usually included.
Audience	General public. Written for the "average" person who doesn't need in-depth knowledge of a topic. (popular)	General public with an interest in more in-depth discussion of topic. (mostly popular)	Academics: scholars, researchers, college and graduate students
Content	Enterntainment, informative.	Some in-depth discussion and analysis with research on current popular topics in physics.	Research, analysis, scholarship. Often includes abstract, research methods, conclusion, bibliography.
Length	Shorter articles providing broad overviews of topics. (popular)	Short newsy items to longer, in-depth articles.	Longer articles providing in-depth analysis of topics. (scholarly)
Appearance	Glossy, colorful, pictures, busy, advertisements. Unclear division between ad and editorial content.	Glossy, pictures, advertisements.	Text-heavy, black & white, graphs, charts, relevant images, few specialized advertisements.
Credibility	Articles are generally evaluated by staff editors rather than experts in the field. Sources are frequently uncited and anonymous.	Articles are reviewed by editors and sometimes by experts in the field.	Articles are submitted for peer-review and approval by professionals and scholars in the field. Frequently sent back for revision for evidence, currency, comprehensiveness.

Some features of scholarly literature:

• Reports of original research

• Authored by credentialed experts in the scholarly field

• In-depth analyses of topics

• Abstract that summarizes the article. Read to determine relevance

• Explanation of methodology and materials

• Discussion of study and results

• Literature Cited section

• In-text citations or notes

• Use technical vocabulary

Three types of scholarly article in the sciences.

A Research article reports on an original experiment or study that investigates a stated problem. The study is carefully controlled so that results are valid. Data is collected and analyzed, and conclusions are based on the evidence. Research studies usually open with a review of the existing relevant literature on the subject.

A Literature Review summarizes and analyzes the important articles on a topic. Literature reviews are a great resource for learning about the scope of research, questions and theories in a field, and for identifying common findings. 

A Theoretical article is an article that presents a theoretical approach to a question or field. It draws on others' research to support the theory, rather than presenting new research and data.

Conference Papers vs Peer Reviewed Articles: Scholarship on a topic is a process and researchers frequently seek feedback from other scholars by presenting their findings at conferences. Peer Reviewed Scholarship refers to articles that have gone through a rigorous quality review process by outside subject experts to be accepted for publication in an academic journal.