Periodicals LIBR 1101

Important Definitions: Periodicals – Any type of publication that comes out regularly (daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, etc.) – Since they are published frequently, they are often the best resources for up-to-date info – include newspapers, magazine, trade publications, and scholarly journals

Important Definitions Newspapers – published daily or weekly – written for a general audience – cover all topics – cover only the most recent news/developments – written by journalists with little or no background in the field – only minor amount of time for fact-checking

Important Definitions Magazines – published weekly or monthly – written for a general audience – may be focused on one area of interest – written by journalist who may or may not have a background in their topic – larger amount of time for fact-checking

Important Definitions Trade Publications – published weekly or monthly – written for workers in a specific field those with a vested interest in the discipline those with at least a working knowledge of the topics – focused only on relevant subjects – written by journalists and experts with background in the discipline – larger amount of basic fact-checking, because the readers know about the topic and will catch errors

Important Definitions Journals – published monthly or quarterly – Also called refereed, academic, scholarly journals – written for scholars, scientists, experts in a field those with a great deal of education in the discipline assumes readers knows the basics – written by scholars/scientists/experts – published original research and analysis – written by the scientists, etc who conducted the research – undergoes intense peer-review

Important Definitions Peer-review – Before publication, research articles are reviewed by independent experts in the discipline look for factual errors shoddy research techniques false conclusions bias – Only scientifically sound articles are published

Peer-review Timeline A scientist reviews existing knowledge in a field and develops a new theory. He then conducts an experiment to test it. He collects data, analyzes it, and writes it up in a research paper… detailing the experiment and data. He sends it to a publisher of scholarly journals. That publisher sends the article to other scientists who look for errors in the experiment and paper. The publisher returns the article for revisions or rejects it all together. After revisions, it may be published. Total Time for peer-review: 6-18 months

Peer-review Since experts have reviewed the report before publication, you can be sure articles in these journals are reliable and factual. Most new research is released with peer- reviewed journals. Most researchers consider peer-reviewed articles as the best source of new information.

BUT! Not every article in a peer-reviewed journal is peer-reviewed. – Book reviews and editorials are one person’s opinion, and so are not subject to peer-review. If an article contains citations, it is usually safe to assume it’s been peer-reviewed.

Periodical Citations All MLA article citations are similar. Author Name. “Article Title.” Journal Title volume#.issue# (date): page numbers. Medium. Most of our databases have a Cite This feature which will create the citation for you.

Sample 1 Sladkova, Jana. “Expectations and Motivations of Hondurans Migrating to the United States.” Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology 17.3 (2007): Print.

Sample 2 If there is no volume or issue numbers, just include the date. The most important thing is that another researcher can use that citation to find your resources. Webster, Donovan. "Reining In The Weather." Discover Jun 2008: Print.