Why Articles?
Articles appear in publications called magazines, journals, periodicals, newspapers and serials. They are generally published at regular intervals, e.g. daily, weekly, monthly, annually, etc. Articles are good sources for:
- most recent research on a topic
- coverage of very narrow topics
- coverage of current events
- contemporary accounts of past events and research
Evaluating Articles
Critical thinking skills should be used when deciding whether an article is appropriate to use. Consider:
Type of Publication: Is it a popular magazine or newspaper, a trade journal, or a scholarly journal? (see below)
Purpose: Is the intent to inform, entertain, persuade or educate?
Objectivity: Are various sides or points-of-view represented?
Author: Does the author have expertise on the topic?
Date: Is the information current or timely for your topic?
Bibliography: Are the authors sources of information cited completely.
Types of Periodicals
Periodicals, journals, magazines fall into 'categories' determined by their overall purpose.
Popular: Written for general public; authors and editors usually journalists not experts in subject field; purpose is to provide current, societal/cultural news and discussion.
Trade: Written for individuals in a specific career/job or with a specific interest/hobby. Authors are generally persons working int he field/hobby or journalists with specialized knowledge. Articles discuss current issues but are not reports of research.
Scholarly: Written for researchers, educators, students, authors are other professionals. Articles are reports of original research or other scholarly investigations/discussions.
Article Databases
Databases provide a systematic method of searching for journal and magazine articles, and other documents, on your topic. Some databases include full text of the documents they index but many do not. The top databases for communication are:
- Communication Abstracts Includes communication-related articles, reports, papers, and books from a variety of publishers, research institutions, and information sources. 1977 to present.
- Communication and Mass Media Complete
A major periodicals database related to communication and mass media. Includes citation coverage of over 40,000 articles related to mass media and published in over 60 research journals, as well as major journalism reviews, recent encyclopedias, and hand - Proquest Research Library Indexing, abstracts and selected full text or full images of articles in a wide range of magazines and journals. It includes general interest and news publications as well as selected scholarly journals. Includes bibliographic citations and abstracts of periodical articles; some full text and full image articles. Coverage varies by title with good coverage for late 1980's to present, some earlier coverage.
- Film and Television Index Subject coverage includes film & television theory, preservation & restoration, writing, production, cinematography, technical aspects, and reviews. The database has been designed for use by a diverse audience that includes film scholars, college student
- ABI/Inform Global Provides in-depth coverage of business conditions, trends, corporate strategies and tactics, management techniques, competitive and product information, and a wide variety of other topics. Full text is provided for more than 600 of the business and manag
- PsycINFO
The most comprehensive database for psychology research covers scholarly international literature in the psychological, social, behavioral, and health sciences. Includes articles in more than 2000 journals as well as book chapters and dissertations. - Sociological Abstracts Covers research in sociology and related disciplines. Sociofile indexes over 2000 journals from about 55 countries, providing bibliographic citations and abstracts for the journal articles. 1974 to present.
- Political Abstracts Abstracts (Worldwide) Covers research in political science, international relations, law, public administration. Indexing and abstracting is provided for over 1300 journals. 1975 to present.
- Web of Science Covers the top journals in the sciences, social sciences and humanities. Can keyword search for topic but also offers unique 'cited reference' searching to trace trace research 'forward' by identifying newer articles citing an older work.
- MEDLINE International coverage of over 3,800 journals in the fields of medicine, including psychiatry, public health, pharmacology, and clinical sciences. 1966 to present. VPN required if off-campus and also using RefWorks.
- HaPI: Health and Psychosocial Instruments Indexes articles with descriptions and analyses of assessment tools used in health and psychology, i.e., questionnaires, checklists, indexes, rating scales, tests, etc. VPN required if off-campus and also using RefWorks.
- Other Psychology databases For additional databases indexing topics relevant to psychology see this entire list.
- International Bibliography of Theatre and Dance full-text Includes 60,000+ journal articles, books, book chapters, dissertation abstracts on all aspects of theatre & performance in 126 countries.
- Dissertations and Theses This database contains records for more than 2 million doctoral dissertations and master's theses. Also included is the full text content for nearly 900,000 dissertations.
- ERIC Comprehensive database in Education, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education, indexes journal articles and specialized reports in educational fields back to 1960s. VPN required if off-campus and also using RefWorks.
- Link to Newspaper databases
Getting the Articles
The Libraries subscribe to over 24,000 journals, most in electronic format. There are a variety of ways to find out if the Libraries subscribe to the journals you need.
If you already have the citation to an article:
- Use MARQCAT. Search by Title and enter the title of the journal, NOT the title or author of the article.
If you are looking at citations from within a database:
-
Use the FindIt@MU icon in the citation you are interested in. This will open another window and do one of two things
- Display a list of databases with links. This indicates the FindIt widget may have found a source for electronic copy of the article. Click on the link to determine if a full text option is located.
- Displays only a link to MARQCAT. Click the MARQCAT link to search the catalog. The journal may be available in print or fulltext through a source not searchable by the FindIt widget.
If you do not find the journal using FindIt@MU or MARQCAT, request the article through Interlibrary Loan. This can be done directly from the article citation within some databases.
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