USING JOURNALS AND MAGAZINES AND NEWSPAPERS

WHAT ARE MAGAZINES, JOURNALS, NEWSPAPERS?

A magazine or journal is something that is published periodically, and so in libraries they are called periodicals. A magazine is a periodical that can be published daily, weekly, or monthly. Magazines usually contain fairly short articles written in a style of writing that is easy to understand. There are usually lots or advertising in a magazine. A journal, however, contains the results of research or experiments done. Usually in a journal article there is data presented about a research project, and the language can be quite technical, and there are few advertisements.

Unlike books, the contents of journals are not available in the SE library catalog. So where are they located? They are located in magazine and journal indexes. Magazine and journal indexes assign a subject to each article in each journal indexed in the magazine and journal index. Until the 1990's most magazine and journal indexes were in paper, now they are almost all on the Internet. Some of these journal indexes on the Internet index popular magazines, other scholarly, while others are devoted to one subject area, NO Journal Index indexes every journal that is published, so they are selective.


HOW TO FIND ARTICLES IN JOURNALS, MAGAZINES

Step One: Look in a Periodical Index

A periodical index is a publication that indexes the content of periodicals. There are many different periodical indexes, some general and some subject specific. One thing needs to be made clear: There is not any periodical index that indexes every single periodical being published today. So each index is selective in what periodicals it indexes. Periodical indexes tend to index the most important or most popular or most respected or well known periodicals.

PAPER PERIODICAL INDEXES

For many years periodical indexes were published in paper, like a book. They would usually come out every few months with an update, and then come out at the end of the year with an annual cumulation. Paper periodical indexes are cumbersome to use and take some take to look at every year, but they can contain information on many valuable articles written sometimes years ago, and paper indexes are valuable places to search for topics in music, drama, art, literature and history.

Basement International Index
An index to periodical literature in the social sciences and humanities. The index begins in 1907 and ends in 1964.
basement Social Sciences and Humanities Index An index to articles appearing in several hundred magazines and journals. Coverage begins in 1965 and continues to 1974.
Basement

Humanities Index
An index to articles found in several hundred magazines and journals in the humanities. Coverage begins in 1974 and continues until 1993.

Basement

Social Sciences Index
An index to articles found in several hundred magazines and journals in the social sciences. Coverage begins in 1974 and continues until 1998.

Basement

Art Index
An index to articles found in several hundred magazines and journals in the arts. Coverage begins in 1967 and continues until 2002.

Basement Poole's Index to Periodical Literature
A guide to periodical literature published in 1802-1906.This is a hard index to use, so see a reference librarian.
Basement Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature
A general subject index to about 200 popular magazines. We have this index from 1915 to the present.
Basement New York Times Index
Index to the New York Times, a major national newspaper. The library has the New York Times from 1851 to the present on microfilm. The index is subject arranged. Paper indexes begin in 1929, and from 1851 to 1928 they are on microfiche. There is an online Index to the New York Times available at: http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/nytimes/advancedsearch.html

PERIODICAL INDEXES ON CD-ROM

In the 1980's many of the old paper periodical indexes began to be digitized and made available on a CD-ROM disk. This made it easier to search, but these had to be updated constantly like paper indexes. One of these CD-ROM indexes that we still have on communication is listed below:

ONLINE PERIODICAL INDEXES

In the 1990's many periodical indexes that were available on CD-ROM became available online on the Internet. In this form they can still be called indexes, but they are usually referred to as DATABASES.

Why use online databases?

There is a disadvantage to online databases for those who are researching topics in history or literature

Some Online Databases that the SE Library Has


FirstSearch Article First

This database contains citations and abstracts to articles that appear in journals in science, technology, social science, business and humanities, and popular culture. With over 16,000 journals indexed, this is one of the largest journal databases in the SE Library's collection. It covers from 1990 to the present, and is updated daily.

EBSCOhost Academic Search Premier
"Designed specifically for academic institutions, Academic Search Premier is a multi-disciplinary full text database containing full text for more than 4,500 journals, including 3,700 peer-reviewed titles. In addition to the full text, this database offers indexing and abstracts for all 8,250 journals in the collection. PDF backfiles to 1975 or further are available for well over 100 journals."
EBSCOhost Business Source Premier
"Business Source Premier is the industry’s most used business research database, providing full text for more than 2,300 journals, including full text for more than 1,100 peer-reviewed titles. Business Source Premier is superior to the competition in full text coverage in all disciplines of business, including marketing, management, MIS, POM, accounting, finance and economics. This database is updated daily on EBSCOhost
EBSCOhost, and FirstSearch ERIC
ERIC, the Educational Resource Information Center, is a very large education database that has been around since 1966. It was funded by the U.S. Department of Education until 2003, but has been kept up to date. It contains over 1 million records in two types: (1) ERIC Documents, which are classroom guides, results of research not published, dissertations, manuals, results or research, and (2) Journal articles from almost 1000 journals. About 107,000 of the ERIC Documents from 1993-present are available full-text online. There is another online version at the Department of Education website, at: http://www.eric.ed.gov/
For more information on ERIC, go to the following website: http://www.se.edu/lib/eric.htm
EBSCOhost Professional Development Collection
Designed for professional educators, this database provides a highly specialized collection of more than 520 full text journals, including more than 350 peer-reviewed titles. Professional Development Collection is the most comprehensive collection of full text education journals in the world.
EBSCOhost Education Research Complete
"Education Research Complete is the definitive online resource for education research. Topics covered include all levels of education from early childhood to higher education, and all educational specialties, such as multilingual education, health education, and testing. Education Research Complete provides indexing and abstracts for more than 1,820 journals, as well as full text for more than 900 journals, and includes full text for more than 71 books and monographs, and for numerous education-related conference papers."
EBSCOhost PsychInfo
PsycINFO , from the American Psychological Association (APA), contains nearly 2.4 million citations and summaries of scholarly journal articles, book chapters, books, and dissertations, all in psychology and related disciplines, dating as far back as the 1800s. 98 percent of the covered material is peer-reviewed. Journal coverage, which spans 1887 to present, includes international material selected from more than 2,200 periodicals in more than 27 languages.
EBSCOhost PsycARTICLES
"PsycARTICLES, from the American Psychological Association (APA), is a definitive source of full-text, peer-reviewed scholarly and scientific articles in psychology. The database contains more than 100,000 articles from 59 journals - 48 published by the American Psychological Association (APA) and 11 from allied organizations. It includes all journal articles, letters to the editor and errata from each journal. Coverage spans 1894 to present."
EBSCOhost SocINDEX with Full Text
"SocINDEX with Full Text is the world's most comprehensive and highest quality sociology research database. The database features more than 1,918,000 records with subject headings from a 19,300+ term sociological thesaurus designed by subject experts and expert lexicographers. SocINDEX with Full Text contains full text for 428 "core" coverage journals dating back to 1908, and 136 "priority" coverage journals. This database also includes full text for more than 720 books and monographs, and full text for 6,785 conference papers."
EBSCOhost Communication and Mass Media Complete
"Communication & Mass Media Complete provides the most robust, quality research solution in areas related to communication and mass media. CMMC incorporates the content of CommSearch (formerly produced by the National Communication Association) and Mass Media Articles Index (formerly produced by Penn State) along with numerous other journals in communication, mass media, and other closely-related fields of study to create a research and reference resource of unprecedented scope and depth encompassing the breadth of the communication discipline. CMMC offers cover-to-cover (“core”) indexing and abstracts for more than 420 journals, and selected (“priority”) coverage of nearly 200 more, for a combined coverage of more than 600 titles. Furthermore, this database includes full text for 301 journals."
FirstSearch H.W. Wilson Select Full Text

Covers 1,600 periodicals from 1994 to the present. Contains records from: Readers' Guide Abstracts, Social Sciences Abstracts, Humanities Abstracts, General Science Abstracts, and Business Abstracts and other Wilson databases. It is updated weekly. An important feature of this database is that all articles are full text.

EBSCOhost MasterFILE Premier
Designed specifically for public libraries, this multidisciplinary database provides full text for more than 1,750 general reference publications with full text information dating as far back as 1975. Covering virtually every subject area of general interest, MasterFILE Premier also includes nearly 500 full text reference books, 85,827 biographies, 105,789 primary source documents, and an Image Collection of 285,912 photos, maps and flags. This database is updated daily via EBSCOhost."
EBSCOhost  MAS Ultra School Edition 
 Designed specifically for high school libraries, this database provides full text nearly 600 popular general interest and current events publications with information dating back as far as 1975 for key magazines. MAS Ultra – School Edition also provides more than 500 full text pamphlets, 268 full text reference books, 84,606 biographies, 88,463 primary source documents, and an Image Collection of 107,135 photos, maps and flags. This database is updated daily via EBSCOhost. 
EBSCOhost Middle Search Plus
Middle Search Plus provides full text for more than 150 popular, magazines for middle and Junior high school research. All full text articles included in the database are assigned a reading level indicator (Lexiles), and full text information dates as far back as 1990. Middle Search Plus also contains 84,606 biographies, 88,463 primary source documents, and an Image Collection of 107,135 photos, maps and flags. This database is updated daily on EBSCOhost
EBSCOhost Primary Search 
 Primary Search provides full text for more than 60 popular, magazines for elementary school research. All full text articles included in the database are assigned a reading level indicator (Lexiles), and full text information dates as far back as 1990. This database is updated daily on EBSCOhost.
FirstSearch MLA Bibliography

This database is compiled by the Modern Language Association, and is one of the top indexes of literature, languages, linguistics, and folklore. It contains over 1.3 million citations to over 6,500 periodicals and other publications. It covers from 1963 to the present, and is updated 9 times a year.

ABI-Inform ABI-Inform

This is a large business database, and indexes over 3000 journals, magazines and newspapers.

1. Where the Databases are located
These databases are all to be found on the SE Library's Electronic Resources Page at: http://www.se.edu/lib/electres.htm

2. What EBSCOHost and FirstSearch are
The word EBSCOhost or FirstSearch to the right of the database name in the table above indicates the name of the database vendor where you can find these databases. If you look at the list of links on the ELectronic Resources page, you will see the links organized by the type of database that they are. You will find EBSCOhost and FirstSearch under the listing of databases called Periodical Databases. When you go down the list, you will see at least two links for both EBSCOhost and FirstSearch. The first link is for those that are on the SE campus. Click on that link, and you will be taken to the list of databases under EBSCOhost or FirstSearch. The second link is the off campus link. This link is necessary to use if you are off of the SE Campus. This link takes you to a page where you will be asked to type in a userid or authorization number, and a password. The userid or authorization number and password to gain access to EBSCOhost and FirstSearch is available at the SE Library Reference Desk, and also is on the proxy server.

What the Electronic Resources Page looks like on the SE Library's Webpage. You can see the links to EBSCOhost and FirstSearch

Step Two: Check to see if the article is available online Full-Text

(the steps from here on pertain only to online databases)

Databases have changed much in the last ten years. it used to be that databases contained only the citation (information needed to find the article) and sometimes a summary, or abstract of the article. Starting about ten years ago, database vendors began to offer some articles in full-text, that means that the entire article was available online, making it unnecessary to find the article in a library. Now there are fewer databases that offer no titles in full-text, and so after doing research in one of SE's databases, check to see if the article that you are interested is available full-text. There will be a link that say something like this: HTML full text, or PDF full text. When you click on the link, you are presented with the full-text of the article, and you are finished. What if the full-text of the article is not available in the database that you are searching? If that is the case, then we move onto Step Three

Step Three: Check to see if the article is available online Full-Text in another database


If you can't find an article full-text in one database, then look to see what other databases have a journal title available full-text. You do that by checking another database called A-to-Z A-to-Z is located at: http://atoz.ebsco.com/home.asp?id=seosu, or you can also get to A-to-Z from the electronic resources page at: http://www.se.edu/lib/electres.htm. A-to-Z is a list of journals that are available full-text, either in an online database that we subscribe to or available in the library in paper in the basement on in microform.


Step Four: Check to see if the the SE Library has the journal in paper


The library subscribes to almost one thousand journals, magazines, and newspapers. In many cases the journal article that you want is located in a journal that we have downstairs in the basement, or on microform. How do you check to see if the library has a journal? By checking A-to-Z, or checking a copy of the SE Library's Periodicals Holding List http://www.se.edu/lib/perhold.htm

Step Five: Use InterLibrary Loan to obtain the article from another college library that has the journal that you want


If you have determined that you cannot locate a journal article full-text on any online database, AND the SE library does not have the journal that the article is in, then what do you do? Give up? You can, but if the article is an important one for your research, you would still like to get it, right? There is one last way for you to get a copy of this article. You can obtain a copy of an article from almost any journal by using a service called Interlibrary Loan. Interlibrary Loan (ILL) is a service that the SE Library provides to students where you can ask (through us) another library that has the journal title that you want . The process of doing this is simple.

1. Obtain an Interlibrary loan form from the circulation desk or go to an online InterLibrary Loan form at: http://www.se.edu/lib/illjournalreq.htm for a journal article and http://www.se.edu/lib/illbookreq.htm for Interlibrary loaning a book. 2. Fill out the form, take note that those fields of the form that have an asterisk in front of them are required fields that are needed to send the information via e-mail. Click submit after filling out the form. 3. The process of receiving something from InterLibrary loan takes about 4 days to two weeks, so if InterLibrary Loans are needed,



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Last Updated: June 23, 2008