PERIODICALS

The use of periodical articles should be an important part of most library research. Depending on your research assignment, you should use different kinds of periodicals. Scholarly and professional journals serve as the major medium for communication in most academic and professional disciplines, and usually include the published findings of original research. They are essential for any major research assignment. Articles from popular magazines and newspapers are useful when you are looking for information about recent events and topics of current interest.

The terms serials, periodicals, magazines, and journals are often interchanged, and their distinctions are not always clear.

• Serials is the broadest term for these type of publications. Serials are any publications that are issued in parts over an indefinite time period. They include periodicals but also proceedings, annuals, and irregular publications.
• Periodicals are publications that are issued in frequent regular intervals. They include magazines, journals, and newspapers. The distinction between magazines and journals is small but can be important.
• Generally magazines are considered to be of popular interest.
• Journals are considered to be of scholarly or professional interest.
• Newspapers are really little different from other current event magazines, except that some come out daily, and come in the familiar newsprint format.

Types of Periodicals

Here is a chart that summarizes some of the major distinctions among periodicals. Others may make finer distinctions. I have seen some charts with as many as seven different columns.

	Popular/General	Popular/Opinion	Scholarly	Trade
Purpose	Current events, information, popular culture	Current events, persuasion, outlet for expressing opinion	Original research; discipline related; refereed, peer-reviewed	Current trends and forecasts; news and products; jobs
Language	Simple, non-technical, for the most part	Some simple, others more demanding, but still non-technical	Academic, jargon-filled, technical	Jargon-filled, mix of breezy and technical
Audience	Wide	Some wide, others focused	Academic, research communities	Focused to disciple
Authors	Journalists, freelance writers	Journalists, pundits; freelance writers	Researchers, professor, scholars	Practitioners, journalists who cover the field
Features	Usually short articles with little or no in-depth coverage (although some literary and cultural magazines will include lengthy in-depth feature articles), pictures, ads, often slick and colorful, no citations	Usually short articles, but often some more in-depth coverage, as well; most have pictures, ads; varying degrees of color and slickness; no citations	Lengthy, in-depth articles, graphs and charts, few or no ads, little color, bibliographic citations	Articles are mixed in length; pictures, often of people; charts; focused ads; color; mix of news updates, calendars, some include research articles with bibliographic citations
Publishers	Commercial publishers	Commercial publishers; interest groups	Universities, scholarly presses, research organizations	Commercial publishers, trade associations
Types	Newspapers, tabloids, newletters, popular magazines, literary magazines	Newspapers, newletters, special interest magazines, commentary & opinion magazines	Different academic disciplines	Different professions, trades, and industries

This chart may help you distinguish among the different publications you see, but there are quite a few magazines and journals that do not quite fit either classification. Some professional journals include coverage of trends, upcoming events and news of personalities, even include advertising, but also include scholarly articles. All types might include book reviews, and advertisements placed by book publishers show up in all types of periodicals. Some journals and even some magazines, however, accept no advertising. Titles of periodicals confuse matters as well. Many magazines have the word "journal" included in the title, and some journals call themselves magazines.

So which ones should I use?

Not all periodicals are appropriate for research. You must read, analyze, and evaluate which articles to use. Popular magazines may be easily read, but when a subject is "popularized," important information may omitted. A magazine writer, not a professional in a subject field, is more likely to make mistakes in presenting the information. Scholarly journals may present problems too. Scholars are notorious for using a specialized vocabulary or jargon that may make understanding journal articles difficult. And battles have been waged by rival theorists and academics in the pages of journals, so even there you can't just take one person's word. There is a major controversy in the medical field about the amount of advertising by drug manufactures in medical journals and what conflict of influence that may create.

For research involving a current event or a news-making topic from any time in the past two hundred years, even though they are not "scholarly," newspapers and magazines are a good source. You can follow the presidential campaigns of Abraham Lincoln as they were originally reported in the New York Times.

Formats of Periodicals

In the Ithaca College Library periodicals are found in several different formats, and they not all found in the same place. There will be loose issues, bound volumes of periodicals, microforms, and periodicals that are available only online. For some periodical titles, the library will maintain some issues and volumes in different formats. Current issues will be found in paper, but back issues will be only available online. For others, back issues will be bound for some years, available on microfilm for other years, and online for different or some of the same years.

Popular Periodicals Collection, Main Floor

The most recent issues of approximately 100 popular periodicals will be foundon the main floor of the library in the Popular Periodicals collection, special display racks. These periodicals are kept in alphabetical order by title.

Periodicals Area, Fourth Floor

Bound periodicals and the recent, unbound issues of most of the Library's 2500+ magazines and journals are kept in a special location on the fourth floor (two floors above the main floor of the library). They are on the left hand side as you walk up the central stairs. It is the side of the library closest to East and West Towers, and also known as the south side of the library. These periodicals are kept in call number order.

Microform Collection, Main Floor

The back issues of some periodicals to which the Ithaca College Library subscribes are maintained in microform format. Microforms are located in special cabinets on the main floor of the library in call number order. Microform readers will be found close by.

Online

Still another location for some periodicals is online. The library subscribes to a growing number of periodicals that only available on your computer screen; some will not be available in paper. In addition, many periodical articles are available in full text through one of the Library's many online periodical databases. Although these services were originally designed to index periodical articles, many periodical databases include the full text of periodical articles or even photo images of the articles' original pages. Access to online periodicals and periodical articles is available from any computer hooked up to the campus network. In most cases, for the present, online periodicals and periodical articles will not be available from computers that are not directly connected to the college's computer network.

Finding periodicals

The next question, of course, is how do you find periodicals and periodical articles.