Learning Objectives
1. To know what a periodical is and why they are important information sources.
2. To recognize the three different types of periodical literature.
3. To understand the purpose and function of print and computerized periodical indexes.
4. To know the difference between general and subject periodical indexes.
5. To understand how to choose appropriate periodical indexes that cover your research topic.
6. To understand the basic features of the Gale's InfoTrac OneFile periodical index and how to conduct basic keyword searching.
7. To understand how to read (i.e. interpret) and evaluate citations to periodical articles.
Instructions
1. Read Lesson six and complete the accompanying exercises.
2. Turn in the completed lesson at the Reference Desk for grading.
Write in any hours spent working on the course on your log sheet.
PREFACE
In the previous lesson you learned about the online catalog and how it can help you find books on a topic. This lesson will focus on a different information source - the periodical. Finding periodical articles depends on skillful use of an access tool known as a periodical index. You've already used one of Caņada's largest periodical indexes (Gale'sInfoTrac Onefile) in Lesson 3 and you'll get more practice with it in this lesson.
WHAT IS A
PERIODICAL?
A periodical is a publication such as a magazine, journal, or newspaper. They're called periodicals because they are published at periodic intervals, i.e. daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, or yearly. They are extremely important sources of information and when you are doing a research project on almost any topic you will want to include them because:
- They offer the most recent discussions and opinions, especially on scientific, technological, and political topics.
- Topics too new or esoteric to be in a book or encyclopedia might be found in periodicals.
- While books often offer a long discussion of one point of view arising out of one ideological framework, periodical articles often provide differing viewpoints, thus exposing you to all sides of a controversial issue.
- Periodical articles are more concise and narrowly focused than books. In other words, viewpoints and discussions that don't warrant an entire book can often be found in periodicals.
- They often offer bibliographic references to additional sources of information (i.e. other books and articles possibly relevant to your topic).
- Periodicals
provide a historical record of past ideas, opinions,
accomplishments, and social problems (Gates 111-12).
TYPES OF PERIODICALS
It is important to be able to recognize and distinguish between the three different types of periodical literature: Popular, Scholarly and Professional. Read the Caņada College Library online handout entitled, Distinguishing Scholarly Journals from Magazines at http://www.canadacollege.net/library/web/scholarly.html
. Go to this website and print the page.1) POPULAR: commercial publications intended for the general reader. The term "popular" refers to the fact that the target readership is what's usually called a "popular audience," i.e. a broad audience.
This category includes magazines (usually published weekly or monthly) such as Newsweek or Reader's Digest, and newspapers (daily or weekly) such as the New York Times or Washington Post. Articles in the popular press are often written in non-technical language by paid staff writers who may or may not be experts on the topic they're discussing. The articles are often reports, summaries, digests, or persuasive pieces with clever, provocative, or eye-catching titles. (One example of a clever title for an article from a popular publication is "Welcome to the Love Lab." The article is about marriage counselors.) Articles from popular periodicals seldom include formal bibliographies or footnotes, although the authors will often quote others in the body of the article.
Popular
publications are valuable in research because they provide
explanations and interpretations of current events, national
and international social and political trends, and public
opinion.
2) SCHOLARLY: specialized publications (usually known as journals) intended for scholars and students of a particular discipline or subject.
Scholarly publications, usually published monthly or quarterly, often include words such as "studies in," "review," "annals," "quarterly," or "journal" in their titles. For example, The American Journal of Psychology, The American Historical Review, and Studies in European History are all scholarly journal titles.
Articles in scholarly publications are written by authors usually associated with a university or learned society. These authors are highly educated people (often holding Master's or PhD degrees) who are often experts, practitioners and teachers in specialized academic fields. They write articles as a way to communicate with other scholars and add to the knowledge base of their discipline. Often, they are reporting the results of original research or experimentation, although sometimes they may write a "review article" which summarizes research that's already been done in a certain area and suggest new areas of inquiry.
Many scholarly publications will not publish an article until it has been reviewed by an editorial board to insure that the it meets certain standards of scholarly acceptability. A publication that requires this formal review is known as a refereed journal, and sometimes teachers will require you to find articles from such journals. (Another term for refereed journal is peer reviewed journal. Both terms mean the same thing.)
Articles published in scholarly publications can be challenging to read because they're not usually intended for readers completely new to the subject. If you come across an article with a long, precise, serious-sounding title containing lots of formal language, you are almost certainly dealing with a scholarly article. For example, notice the formal language and serious tone of this article title from a scholarly journal in psychology: "Clonazepam as an Augmenting Agent in the Treatment of Childhood-onset Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder."
Articles
appearing in scholarly publications almost always include
extensive footnotes and bibliographies (unlike articles from
popular publications).
3) PROFESSIONAL: publications intended for an educated audience that typically report on developments and news in a particular field, profession, trade, or industry.
Unlike
scholarly publications, they do not publish articles
reporting the results of original research. Instead, they
concentrate on news and broad discussions of research trends
in a particular field or industry. This category includes
professional journals, such as American Psychologist
or Anthropology Today, as well as trade journals,
such as Automotive News or PC Week.
When
researching and identifying periodical articles, bear in
mind the above distinctions and ask yourself which type of
periodical article would be most helpful at your current
stage of research. (This assessment is part of Stage 4 of
the research process: information needs analysis.) Articles
from popular publications are usually good starting
points because they often introduce you to a topic and
inform you about different approaches, points of view, and
controversies in your subject area. At later stages in your
research, you may turn to scholarly journals for the
objectivity, depth, and focus offered by original research.
Articles in professional or trade journals sometimes
serve both functions, giving you basic topic overview as
well as discussions of the latest research trends in an
easier to read format than journal articles.
Also, to help you decide if a journal is scholarly or popular, use the Reference Book entitled, Magazines for Libraries. The call number for this book, kept in the Reference Collection, is REF Z6941 .M23 PN4832 2000. Look up the name of the journal or magazine in the title index at the back of the book. The index will refer you to an entry number. Use this entry number (rather than page number) to locate the paragraph description/review of that magazine which will be found in the front portion of the book under that entry number.
************************
Locate the following periodical titles in the library. Identify
the following periodical titles as popular, scholarly, or
professional. Refer to the Caņada Library guide entitled,
Example:
Newsweek - - - - - - - Popular
(Reason: periodicals that report on current events are
usually regarded as popular)
1) Parents ______________________________
2) JAMA : Journal of the American Medical Association _______________________
3) U.S. News and World Report __________________________
4) Journal of Marriage and Family __________________________
5) Drama Review _____________________________
6)
Business Week _______________________________
PERIODICAL INDEXES
More than 165,000 periodicals are published worldwide. Given this vast number of magazines and journals, how do you find articles on your topic?
You must use an access tool known as a periodical index. A periodical index is a list of bibliographic records that describe periodical articles. These records are broadly organized according to subject and author.
Therefore, just as you can use an online catalog to look up books on a subject, you can use a periodical index to find articles on a subject. But remember that these are two different access tools, each with its own purpose. Online catalogs are usually limited to books and do not list individual articles in periodicals. You must use a periodical index to find citations to specific articles.
No single periodical index covers all the periodicals being published. Instead, a periodical index lists articles from a specific set of periodicals for a specific time period. The periodicals included in an index might cover many subjects, or only one subject. The subject(s) and time period that an index covers is what's known as the scope of an index. Before attempting to use an index, it's always a good idea to learn its scope. What does it include and exclude and for what time period? Most periodical indexes will identify the subject(s) and time period covered, as well as provide a list of the exact periodical titles included in that index.
There are 2 types of periodical indexes:
1) General Periodical Indexes: offer citations to articles found in popular, scholarly, and professional publications and cover a broad range of general interest subjects. Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature and Gale's InfoTrac OneFile are examples of general periodical indexes.
2) Subject Periodical Indexes: offer citations to articles found in scholarly and professional publications and cover one specific subject (art, education, biology, etc.) or one specific discipline (science, humanities, social sciences, etc.). Art Index and Humanities Index are examples of subject periodical indexes.
(NOTE: Newspaper indexes are a special type of periodical index that will be discussed separately in Lesson 8. The periodical indexes discussed in this unit index only magazines and journals articles.)
Most
periodical indexes are produced and sold by commercial
publishers and used nationwide. In other words, a periodical
index is not based on a particular library's
collection of magazines and journals. Therefore, finding a
relevant citation does not necessarily mean that your
library can provide the actual text of the article. You must
learn how your library provides information about its
periodical holdings. (This process is less crucial if you
are using a full-text or partial full-text computerized
periodical index, as discussed in the next section.)
PRINT AND COMPUTERIZED PERIODICAL INDEXES
Periodical indexes are available in both print and computerized format. During the past decade the computerized format has become the norm and this course will focus on computerized periodical indexes. You should, however, be aware of print periodical indexes and when you might need to use them.
Both general and subject print periodical indexes are available at most libraries, including Caņada. They are published monthly with annual cumulations and usually include an alphabetical list at the front of each volume of all the periodical titles covered by that index. A "Key to Abbreviations" also usually appears in the introductory pages.
When would it be necessary to use a print index? If you are researching a topic that was in the news or primarily being written about in magazines or newspapers prior to 1980, your only choice would be print periodical indexes since few computerized periodical index go back in time farther than that. For example, if you wanted a magazine or journal article discussing the moon landing written at the time it occurred - 1969 -- you would probably have to consult a print index.
Print indexes are especially useful, therefore, when looking for primary sources. A primary source is information in its original, first-hand presentation. Primary sources are the evidence left behind by participants or observers of an event. They can be diaries, journals, speeches, interviews, letters, manuscripts, memoirs, autobiographies, government documents, organization records, published materials (written at the time of the event), photographs, physical objects, etc.. Specific examples of primary sources include: a newspaper account of the attack on Pearl Harbor written by a reporter on the scene; a journal article describing, for the first time, the scientific study which led to the discovery of the AIDS virus. Print out the Caņada Library's handout on Primary sources located at http://www.canadacollege.net/library/web/PrimaryvsSec.htm Read the handout and attach it to this exercise. Now follow the steps below to locate primary sources:
Most of the material that you will come across in your search will not be primary sources, they will be Secondary Source. A secondary source is a
restatement, examination, or discussion of information that
was first presented in one or more primary sources. (List
13). They are removed from the original facts or events and
are therefore second-hand commentaries or interpretations.
Thus, an article published in 1999 commemorating the 30th
anniversary of the moon landing would be a secondary source.
Depending on your research topic, both types of information
sources may be valuable to your research, requiring you to
use both print and computerized periodical
indexes. When
using a computerized periodical index, pay special attention
to whether or not the full-text of some or all
of the articles is provided. ("Full-text" means every word
of the article, available for reading on the screen,
printing, e-mailing, or downloading.) More and more
periodical indexes are offering some or all of their
articles in full-text, or at least an abstract
(summary). This is a very convenient feature for the
researcher since it makes finding the actual paper copy of
the journal or magazine unnecessary. Since
hundreds of periodical indexes exist, beginning researchers
often have trouble choosing an appropriate index for their
topic. You may want to consult with a librarian for the most
relevant index(es). If, however, you want to choose an index
on your own, ask yourself the following questions to help
you pick the right index(es) for your topic: GENERAL
GUIDELINES FOR USING PERIODICAL INDEXES After
you have chosen an appropriate index for your research
topic, keep in mind the following general principles when
using any periodical index: It is
very important to be able to correctly interpret citations
(a.k.a. bibliographic records) from periodical indexes.
Although the appearance of citations may vary from index to
index, they all have a similar structure with many common
features. For example, given below is a typical citation
from Gale'sInfoTrac Onefile: This
record can be divided into categories of descriptive information called fields Let's examine each field or category of information for the record displayed above: Source:
ARTnews Title: Viva Zapata! Author(s):
Linda Bank Downs. Citation:
Basic information that is used in a bibliography such as title, author journal, volume, issue, page number and date. Some sources in the databases will only give a citation for that source without an abstract or the full-text. In cases whter full-text is not available, it is possible that the library subscribes to this journal in the print format. Check the Periodical List, located next to the Reference Desk, for a list of print magazines and journals that Caņada receives in print. Abstract:
A description is presented of the work of artist Diego Rivera... Full-text: This particular article used in the example does not have full-text available. Full-text tells you that the entire article can be viewed in this database. Not all articles are available in full-text (see "Citations" above). It is possible to limit your search criteria in order to display only articles that are available in full-text. To do this in Gale's InfoTrac OneFile, look for the option underneath the box where you type in your topic. Subjects(s):
Rivera, Diego; Rivera, Diego - Works
development ****************************************************************** DESCRIPTION
OF THE INDEX: InfoTrac OneFile is one of
several periodical indexes offered by Gale. It
contains citations, abstracts, and many full-text articles
on topics in all areas of the humanities, social sciences,
science and technology, and public affairs. The articles you
find will be from popular magazines, professional journals,
and scholarly journals. SCOPE:
thousands of periodicals indexed. 1984 to the
present. 7) View the citations by clicking on the view located next to Periodical References.
How many citations ("hits") did Gale'sInfoTrac OneFile
retrieve? _________ 8)
How many articles did your revised search find?
_____ 9)
From the results list, choose one article from a
scholarly publication and using the Reference book entitled, Magazines for Libraries(REF Z6941 .M23 PN4832 2000), provide the
following information: Look up the name of the journal in Magazines for Libraries . What kinds of articles are published in this magazine or journal?
_______________________________________________________________ According to Magazines for Libraries, is this journal a publication that an academic library should subscribe to?
_______________________________________________________________ Please
ask the instructor for assistance if you're uncertain about
whether or not the article you've chosen is from a scholarly
publication. Title
(of article):
_______________________________________________________________ Author(s):
______________________________________________________________ Source
(name of the periodical, date, volume, issue, and pages):
__________________________________________________ Subject(s):
(can be 1-5 headings)
______________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ 10)
Choose one of the subject headings for the
article you've chosen. Write it below: _________________________________________________________________ 11)
From this new list, choose one article from a
popular publication and provide the following
information: Title
(of article):
_______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ Author(s):
______________________________________________________________ Source
(name of the periodical):
__________________________________________________ Subject(s):
(can be 1-5 headings)
_______________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ 12)
Find a periodical article related to the research topic that you have chosen for this course by conducting a
subject search on Gale'sInfoTrac OneFile
. You may find that the search mode will switch from a subject search to a keyword search automatically if the database does not have success with the subject search. This is fine. Begin
by looking at your previous lessons and
reviewing the keyword(s) you used when searching for books
on your topic in Lesson 5. When searching an online
catalog (such as WebPAC), it is often necessary to keep
your keyword(s) somewhat broad because books often cover
broad topics. However, when searching a periodical
index (such as Gale'sInfoTrac OneFile), it is often a good
strategy to use more specific or precisely worded keyword(s)
because of the focused nature of magazine and journal
articles. Therefore, you have the option of doing your
keyword search on Gale'sInfoTrac OneFile with keywords that
describe your topic in a more direct, focused way.
Formulate
a keyword search on your topic. You can search by a
single keyword OR keyword phrase OR
combined keywords. Choose one approach for your
search and write it below. In many cases, a combined keyword
search should work well. single
keyword:
_________________________________________________________ keyword
phrase:
_________________________________________________________ combined
keywords:
______________________________________________________ 13)
After entering your search, you'll be given a list of
citations. (If you get no results, or only false hits, try
synonymous or broader search terms, or ask instructor for
help.) How many citations did Gale's InfoTrac OneFile retrieve?
_________ 14)
Choose one article that's relevant to your topic,
display the full record by clicking on the article
title, and provide the following information:
Title
of article:
___________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ Author(s):
______________________________________________________________ Source:
________________________________________________________________ Date:
_______________________ Volume # and issue # (if given):
____________ This
article begins on page _______ and is ________ pages
long. Does an
abstract accompany the citation? YES or No (circle your
answer) Does
the full-text of the article accompany the citation? YES or
No (circle your answer) Is this
article from a popular, scholarly, or professional
publication? ______________________ Is this
print publication available at Caņada Library? Yes or No (circle
your answer) 15)
Remaining at the full display for the article you've chosen,
carefully examine the subject headings. In many cases you
will discover subject headings relevant to your research
topic that you probably wouldn't have thought of on your
own. Write below all the subject headings assigned by
Gale'sInfoTrac OneFile to your article that seem especially
relevant to your topic: __________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ 16)
PRINT THE FULL BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD FOR THE ARTICLE
YOU'VE CHOSEN BY FOLLOWING THESE DIRECTIONS: 18)
Look again at the subject
headings that describe your article and choose
one that seems especially relevant to your topic.
Write that subject heading below: _________________________________________________________________ 19)
Write below the article title and publication name of
one additional article that you found by clicking on the
subject heading you identified in question #18. Title
of article:
___________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ Source:
________________________________________________________________ LESSON 6 - KEY
POINTS TO REMEMBER LESSON 6 -
REVIEW THE CONCEPTS 20)
Periodicals are publications such as magazines, journals,
and newspapers. Give 3 reasons explaining why almost any
research project should include them as information
sources. a)
______________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ b)
_____________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ c)
_____________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ 21)
Name and briefly define the 3 different types of periodical
literature. a)______________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ b)______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ c)______________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ 22)
In the Caņada Library, locate a print issue of each of the three publication listed below. Use the online handout entitled, Distinguishing Scholarly Journals from Magazines located at http://www.canadacollege.net/library/web/scholarly.html and the book entitled, Magazines for Libraries , to help you identify each of the following periodicals as either
popular, scholarly, or professional: Los
Angeles Times
_________________________________ Sky and Telescope _________________________________ Wired __________________________ 23)
What is a periodical index? ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ 24)
Just as you can use WebPAC to find books on a subject, you
can use a periodical index to find _________________________
on a subject. 25)
What do we mean by the "scope" of an index? ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ 26)
Name the 2 types of periodical indexes: a)
____________________________________________________________ b)
____________________________________________________________ 27)
Periodical indexes can be in 2 formats, printed volumes
or ___________________________. 28)
When doing research, when is it necessary to use a
print periodical index? ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ 29)
A letter written by a Confederate soldier during the
American Civil War would be considered a primary source.
Why? _______________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ 30)
Use the Library Catalog, article databases, or the Internet to locate a Primary Source for your topic (see a list of recommended Primary Source Internet sites when you scroll down to the bottom of the following webpage:http://www.canadacollege.net/library/virlib/histframe.htm). Refer to the handout that you printed early on "Primary Sources" to insure that the source you select for this question is actually primary and not secondary. Answer the questions below about the source that you find. Is the souce you found a book, article or webpage?_______________________________________________________________________ List the title of the article, book or webpage:_______________________________________________________________________ If the source is a book, list the author, publisher and publication date of the book: _______________________________________________________________________ If the source is an article, list the name of the magazine or journal, author, volume, issue, page numbers, and date the article was published:_______________________________________________________________________ If the source is a webpage, then list the author, organization, date the webpage was last updated, and URL (Internet address, http://...) for the source:_______________________________________________________________________ Explain why this document is a primary source and how the author is related to the event described in the source :_______________________________________________________________________
CHOOSING
THE RIGHT INDEX
INTREPRETING
PERIODICAL CITATIONS
Explanation:
(title of the magazine or journal) June 1999
(date the journal was published)
v98
i6
(volume 98, issue 6 of the journal)
p100
(the article begins on page 100 in the print version of
the journal)
(2)
(the article is 2 pages long in the print version of the
journal)
Explanation: title of the article
Explanation: Name of the person(s) who wrote the
article
Explanation:
A short summary of the article.
Explanation: formal subject headings assigned by
Gale to describe and categorize this article.
Now that you know more about periodical indexes and the
information they provide, complete the following exercise
using one of Caņada's most extensive general periodical
indexes: Gale's Infotrac OneFile.
Gale's InfoTrac OneFile can be searched from any computer with Internet access. All you need is a Pennisula System library card. To access InfoTrac OneFile, follow these directions:
hate crimes
Every one of these citations has the phrase hate
crimes somewhere in the subject field(s).
(Notice that the citations are presented in reverse
chronological order, i.e. the most recent articles appear
first.)
Let's assume you're interested in gays as victims of hate
crimes.
Click on
search.
________________________________________________________________________
RESEARCHING
YOUR TOPIC - PERIODICAL ARTICLES
NOTE: Fill in only one of the following 3 lines. This
will become the keyword search you actually execute.
IMPORTANT: Please ask the instructor for help if you're
uncertain about doing a keyword search for your topic on
Gale'sInfoTrac OneFile. In fact, we strongly encourage you to show
the instructor your planned keyword search before actually
running it.
(ex: multiculturalism)
OR
(ex: genetically engineered crops)
OR
(ex: women AND discrimination)
(name of the periodical)
(HINT: Use the Periodical List Binder located next to the Reference Desk to find this answer.
(name of the periodical)
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________