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Journal articles

Journal articles

Journals

A journal (also known as a periodical or serial) is a type of magazine which deals with a specialised topic, e.g. criminology. There are two main types of journal:

Academic journals

These are the main forum for the latest academic research. They contain long, scholarly articles written by academic researchers and have long lists of references at the end of each article. Many of the academic journals in the library and on your reading lists will be peer reviewed journals.  This means that each article is checked by a panel of experts for quality before it is published in the journal. Peer reviewed journals have the greatest authority and will give authority to your work if you use them.

Advantages Disadvantages
Published more frequently than books; therefore more up-to-date May give too specific coverage if you need a broad overview of a topic or an introduction
Give you information on specific aspects of a topic  
Contain expert opinion; therefore have authority  
Give you ideas on academic writing (and how to reference)  

.

Professional magazines

These are written by professionals working in the field (who are not necessarily carrying out research and by journalists who may/may not have subject expertise.They contain short features and news items and usually have lots of pictures and advertisements. They are useful for keeping up-to-date with the latest news and developments in your subject but they do not have the same authority as academic journals and do not contain research papers.

Advantages

Disadvantages

Good for keeping up-to-date with the latest news/developments in a subject.

DO NOT contain research papers.

 

Articles are likely to be brief & have few (if any) references to other materials at the end.

 

Are not peer-reviewed

 

Finding journals

Most journals are now available electronically via the Library Catalogue. To find a particular journal. Select the journal title option, type in the title of the journal, e.g. British Journal of Social Work and click the Search button. Follow the links to access the electronic version of the journal. N.B. If working off-campus you will need to enter your network login to access the journal.

A very small number of journals are still only produced in print format. To use these you must go to the journal shelves (Level 1 Journals section, Polhill Library; Ground Floor, Park Square LRC).

Finding journal articles on a topic

The easiest way to find useful journal articles on a topic is to use the DISCOVER resource discovery platform. DISCOVER allows you to search all of our databases and the library catalogue at the same time. This is much more effective than browsing shelves of printed journals hoping to find something useful.

You cannot find journal articles by simply searching the library catalogue.

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