Finding Journals and Journal Articles
The MacPháidín Library owns copies or rights to more than 10,000 journal, newspapers and magazines in print, microform and electronic versions. Journals, newspapers and magazine are often referred to as periodicals or serials.
| What is a Journal? |
|---|
Journals are ongoing publications issued with the same title (usually), on a regular or periodic basis, with no expected end to their publication (e.g. newspapers, magazines, scholarly journals, annual reports).
Articles are contained in journals and contain specific works of particular aspects of a topic. Since journal articles are usually published in a faster time frame than books, they can be a good source for the very latest available information on a topic. (Books usually cover a broader range of topics much more thoroughly.)
The two main types of journals are popular magazines and scholarly (academic) journals.
Types of magazines and journals:
- Popular magazines: general news and information sources covering a broad subject area, intended for a general audience. The authors are usually staff writers or freelance journalists and writers working for the magazine.
- Scholarly journals: usually written by academic scholars reporting the results of original experiments or research in a specific subject area. Articles in scholarly journals are usually peer reviewed, meaning that articles submitted for publication are critiqued by other experts in the field for accuracy, relevance to the field, importance of the contents, and whether related publications are taken into account before they are published.
- Newspapers: usually include general news and information relating to current events. Articles contained in newspapers may be intended for a general audience or a more specific target audience.