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FYS 100 -- Media, the Public Sphere & the Crisis of American Democracy (Fall 2014): Types of Periodicals

Periodicals


DEFINITIONS:

Magazines:

Articles in popular magazines like Time or Sports Illustrated contain information written for the general public. These sources may be appropriate to use in an academic paper, depending on the topic and focus. Magazines can be useful for introductory reading about the topic or for collecting fast facts.

Newspapers:
Newspapers provide a journalistic perspective on a specific time and place, including local and regional news. Reliable news stories are based on eye witness' perceptions of what happened. Also include editorials and opinion pieces.

Journals:
Academic journal articles are often longer than popular magazine articles. They may or may not be peer-reviewed before publication. Journals with fully documented references are more scholarly than those that don't include a bibliography or list of references.

Peer-Reviewed / Refereed / Scholarly:
Articles published in refereed journals are controlled by an editorial board following a formal process of peer review by experts in the subject area covered. The information therefore has a high level of quality, credibility, and reliability.

Trade Periodicals:
Trade publications specialize in news and information for professionals in a certain occupation. They are a credible source if written by experts with knowledge of the subject area.

 

 

→  To see if the Library has a particular journal or magazine check the Journal Locator, a full listing of the periodicals that the college can access in print (in the Library) or online. See a listing of Journalism and Communications journals.

Magazines & Journals & Newspapers, Oh My!

Major multi-disciplinary databases (Many more databases are available at this link).

 ProQuest 

 

 Academic Search  Premier  

 Lexis/Nexis  Sage Online  Journals
 Popular magazines  Popular magazines  Some popular  magazines  Peer  reviewed/Scholarly  journals
 Newspapers - both U.S. and  international news sources  Peer  reviewed/Scholarly  journals  Newspapers  
 Peer reviewed/Scholarly journals    Trade publications  
 Trade publications    Media tranascripts