PLUG-INs A Student’s Guide to Information Literacy MAGAZINES & JOURNALS

What is a magazine ? What is a journal ? How are magazines & journals different from books? Why should you read magazines & journals ?

In fact, other names for them are periodicals or serials. First, what is a magazine or journal ? Magazines & journals are publications which come out from time to time, periodically or serially. In fact, other names for them are periodicals or serials.

Sometimes a periodical comes out every week. We call this a WEEKLY. Sometimes a periodical comes out every month. We call this a MONTHLY. Sometimes a periodical comes out only 4 times a year. We call this a QUARTERLY.

A single copy of a periodical is called an issue. All issues in a year are called a volume. So, a monthly periodical has 12 issues a year, or 12 issues in one volume.

How are magazines & journals different from books? It takes a long time to write and publish a book. Periodicals can report stories sooner than books; so the information is more timely or current.

What is the difference between a magazine & a journal ? MAGAZINES are often written for “light” reading or entertainment. People who write for MAGAZINES are usually not experts in the subject.

MAGAZINES are usually colorful and very attractive. MAGAZINES usually have many photographs. Usually MAGAZINES are not expensive because they have many advertisements. Sometimes the ads are interesting and useful.

JOURNALS are usually about a specialized subject and are written by experts in that subject. JOURNALS present research findings and the results of serious academic studies JOURNALS are sometimes published by academic or scientific societies, not regular businesses.

have no advertisements JOURNALS can be very expensive, especially journals about medicine and science. Usually academic and scientific JOURNALS have fewer advertisements than magazines. Sometimes JOURNALS have no advertisements at all.

Some academic JOURNALS have a feature called PEER REVIEW. This means that experts decide what articles get published in a journal. They read and comment on all articles before they appear in the journal. Ask your teacher if you need to use this feature for your research.

A story in a periodical is called an ARTICLE A story in a periodical is called an ARTICLE. Articles can be short or long, many words or few words. Sometimes readers of the periodical write letters about a story they read. These letters are printed in a special section called LETTERS FROM READERS.

Why should you read magazines and journals? It’s fun ! And, reading magazines can improve your vocabulary. Because information in a journal is newer than in a book, the latest scientific research is found in journals not books

the titles of the articles are on the cover. Sometimes the titles of the articles are on the cover. In this magazine, there are articles about Portugal. Let’s look at a magazine cover. This magazine is called FACES. On the cover, there are photographs about what is inside. Here, we see faces of boys from Portugal.

magazine cover. The title of the magazine is Sports Car International. Here is another magazine cover. The title of the magazine is Sports Car International. There is a photograph of an Alfa sports car on the cover. Inside this magazine the feature article is called Alfa’s Back.

first page of a magazine is the CONTENTS page. Usually the first page of a magazine is the CONTENTS page. All the articles and the authors are listed on this page. Also, it tells you what page the article starts.

Here is an example of the CONTENTS page from Faces magazine. On page 12, we find a story called Portugal Around the World. The author is R. Anthony Kugler.

Sometimes photographs in magazine articles have some words under them. We call these words a CAPTION. Look at the examples.

There are about 650 different magazines and journals in HCT libraries. There are about 250 different titles at the Fujairah Colleges. Some are “serious” and some are for fun.

The library groups periodicals in sections by topic. For example, there is a Business Section, Education Section, Sports Section & so on. You can relax and read an article during a break between classes.

in print, HCT has over 35,000 full text magazines and journals online. In addition to magazines & journals in print, HCT has over 35,000 full text magazines and journals online. How do you find these online journals?

and click on Journals Search. Go to : library.hct.ac.ae Pull down Resources and click on Journals Search.

You can enter the name of the journal in the search box or browse by title.

For details about how to find articles on a specific topic, ask your friendly librarian or see the PlugIn lesson called ONLINE DATABASES.

Keep this information : Finally, for your reports, you may need a record of the articles you read. Keep this information : Author’s name 2. Title of article 3. Name of periodical 4. Date, volume & issue 5. Page numbers

a special format for a Bibliography. You use a special format for a Bibliography. A list of the articles you have read is called a Bibliography or References List. We will learn more about this in future Plug In lessons.

I hope you will enjoy reading magazines & journals. Remember, some magazines are for serious study and some are for fun !

Thank you for listening. HAPPY READING !