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When people think of library research, they usually think of books. But sometimes - especially when you're a distance ed student and aren't on campus much - articles from periodicals are invaluable sources for your research projects. The term periodical refers to magazines, journals, and newspapers; they are publications that come out periodically.
Magazine & journal indexes
Here are some reasons to use periodical articles in addition to (or even instead of) books:
- For current information. Because most periodicals come out monthly or even weekly, they contain information that hasn't yet appeared in books. Because there's a much greater lag time in book publishing, books are usually better for finding historical background and in-depth analysis.
- Available online, 24/7. Through our online databases, you can read full-text articles from thousands of magazines and journals - even periodicals that DCTC doesn't subscribe to - from any computer with Internet access.
- To supplement books. Sometimes your library simply doesn't have enough books on your topic, or those books have been checked out by other people researching the same topic. Periodical articles are always available to you.
EBSCO MegaFILE is our best and biggest general resource for journal and magazine articles on all topics.
CINAHL and PsycARTICLES include articles related to nursing and psychology, respectively.
We will complete these tutorials after EBSCO releases its new interface on July 1, 2008. Thank you for your patience.
Newspaper indexes
Newspapers are unbeatable for up-to-date information on a wide variety of topics. They are especially useful when your topic is:
- Extremely current. If you're writing a paper that requires up-to-date information about a political campaign, you won't find that information in books - and maybe not even in magazines.
- Local. If you're writing about whether Minnesota should fund a new stadium for the Vikings or pass legislation banning cell-phone use while driving, you won't likely find books on these subjects. But you will find articles on these topics in the Star Tribune or the Pioneer Press.
- Political or controversial. Newspapers cover politics and current issues and publish opinion pieces on their editorial pages.
Access World News and ProQuest Newspapers provide full-text articles from hundreds of newspapers from all over the world.
Current events & social issues resources
Controversial issues, current events, and social issues are popular subjects for research papers. Information on such topics can be found in the magazine, journal, and newspaper indexes mentioned above, or you can use databases that specialize in these topics and do some of the work for you. Information from these databases can lend depth and background to your report, and it's information that can be tough to find on your own. These are also great places to look for research topics if you haven't chosen one yet!
CQ Researcher and SIRS Researcher provide high-quality reports, articles, timelines, graphs, statistics, photographs, reference material, and links to other sources.