What is a periodical?

A periodical is any type of publication that is published on a regular, or periodic, basis. You are probably familiar with two kinds of periodicals: magazines and newspapers. But there are other types: professional/trade journals, journals of opinion, and scholarly/research journals. Use the chart to learn the difference and help you decide which type is appropriate for a specific need.

Examples:

The Columbian
The New York Times
The Washington Post

Value or Use:

Current information
News stories
Opinion and commentary
Texts of speeches, etc.
Geographic focus

Best Newspaper Indexes/Databases:

ProQuest This link opens in a new window Articles from academic journals, popular magazines, and newspapers.
Articles from academic journals, popular magazines, and newspapers. By default this ProQuest link searches Research Library, Family Health Database, National Newspapers, and ABI/INFORM Trade & Industry; full text and graphics available.

Explore ProQuest's Youtube Channel for a series of training videos.

URL: https://clarkcollege.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/advanced
New York Times Historical This link opens in a new window Newspaper articles from the New York Times, from 1851 to three years ago.
Newspaper articles from the New York Times, from 1851 to three years ago. Full-text and full-image of every page of the New York Times, cover to cover, in downloadable PDF format. Includes articles on national and international affairs, businesses, sports, New York regional news, regular columns, biographical stories and reports on science, medicine, the arts and more. Includes supplements such as the Book Review and Magazine. Also includes the complete text of all Presidential press conferences and other important speeches. Current issues indexed in ProQuest.

URL: https://clarkcollege.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/hnpnewyorktimes/advanced?accountid=1157
News - Gale OneFile This link opens in a new window Major U.S. and international newspapers.
Access major U.S. and international newspapers online to search articles instantly by title, headline, date, or other fields.

URL: https://clarkcollege.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://link.gale.com/apps/STND?u=clark_integrated

Examples:

Time
Newsweek

Value or Use:

Current events overviews
Non-technical language
Charts, pictures, graphs

Best Magazine Indexes/Databases:

Academic Search Complete (EBSCOhost) This link opens in a new window Articles from journals, magazines, and newspapers for all academic disciplines.
Articles from journals, magazines, and newspapers for all academic disciplines. This collection includes the following full-text content, in addition to thousands of searchable cited resources:
3,618 active, full-text, non-open access journals and magazines
3,099 active, full-text, peer-reviewed, non-open access journals
1,298 active, full-text, peer-reviewed, non-open access journals with no embargo
2,444 active, full-text, non-open access journals indexed in Web of Science or Scopus

This database is hosted on EBSCO platform and includes Academic Search Premier.

URL: https://clarkcollege.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://research-ebsco-com.clarkcollege.idm.oclc.org/c/vqwdh7/search/advanced/filters?db=a9h
Popular Magazines - Gale OneFile This link opens in a new window Magazines focusing on current events, sports, science, and health issues.
Access the most searched magazines across Gale OneFile focusing on current events, sports, science, and health issues.

URL: https://clarkcollege.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://link.gale.com/apps/PPPM?u=clark_integrated
ProQuest This link opens in a new window Articles from academic journals, popular magazines, and newspapers.
Articles from academic journals, popular magazines, and newspapers. By default this ProQuest link searches Research Library, Family Health Database, National Newspapers, and ABI/INFORM Trade & Industry; full text and graphics available.

Explore ProQuest's Youtube Channel for a series of training videos.

URL: https://clarkcollege.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/advanced

Examples:

American Machinist
Library Journal

Value or Use:

Written for practitioners in applied fields
Product information
Current trends and practices

General Indexes/Databases:

Academic Search Complete (EBSCOhost) This link opens in a new window Articles from journals, magazines, and newspapers for all academic disciplines.
Articles from journals, magazines, and newspapers for all academic disciplines. This collection includes the following full-text content, in addition to thousands of searchable cited resources:
3,618 active, full-text, non-open access journals and magazines
3,099 active, full-text, peer-reviewed, non-open access journals
1,298 active, full-text, peer-reviewed, non-open access journals with no embargo
2,444 active, full-text, non-open access journals indexed in Web of Science or Scopus

This database is hosted on EBSCO platform and includes Academic Search Premier.

URL: https://clarkcollege.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://research-ebsco-com.clarkcollege.idm.oclc.org/c/vqwdh7/search/advanced/filters?db=a9h
ProQuest This link opens in a new window Articles from academic journals, popular magazines, and newspapers.
Articles from academic journals, popular magazines, and newspapers. By default this ProQuest link searches Research Library, Family Health Database, National Newspapers, and ABI/INFORM Trade & Industry; full text and graphics available.

Explore ProQuest's Youtube Channel for a series of training videos.

URL: https://clarkcollege.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/advanced
Vocational & Career Collection This link opens in a new window Articles from trade and industry magazines and newspapers.
Articles from trade and industry magazines and newspapers. Designed for vocational and technical libraries servicing high schools, community colleges, trade institutions and the general public. This collection provides full-text coverage for nearly 340 trade and industry-related periodicals.

URL: https://research-ebsco-com.clarkcollege.idm.oclc.org/c/vqwdh7/search/advanced/filters?db=voh

Examples:

Commentary
The New Republic

Value or Use:

Written from a political viewpoint (liberal, conservative)
General educated audience
Commentary on politics, society
Book reviews

General Indexes/Databases:

Academic Search Complete (EBSCOhost) This link opens in a new window Articles from journals, magazines, and newspapers for all academic disciplines.
Articles from journals, magazines, and newspapers for all academic disciplines. This collection includes the following full-text content, in addition to thousands of searchable cited resources:
3,618 active, full-text, non-open access journals and magazines
3,099 active, full-text, peer-reviewed, non-open access journals
1,298 active, full-text, peer-reviewed, non-open access journals with no embargo
2,444 active, full-text, non-open access journals indexed in Web of Science or Scopus

This database is hosted on EBSCO platform and includes Academic Search Premier.

URL: https://clarkcollege.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://research-ebsco-com.clarkcollege.idm.oclc.org/c/vqwdh7/search/advanced/filters?db=a9h
ProQuest This link opens in a new window Articles from academic journals, popular magazines, and newspapers.
Articles from academic journals, popular magazines, and newspapers. By default this ProQuest link searches Research Library, Family Health Database, National Newspapers, and ABI/INFORM Trade & Industry; full text and graphics available.

Explore ProQuest's Youtube Channel for a series of training videos.

URL: https://clarkcollege.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/advanced

Also called peer-reviewed or academic

Examples:

Journal of Reading
New England Journal of Medicine

Value or Use:

Reports of original research
In-depth analysis of topics
Usually contains sections on Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion, and Works Cited/References
Uses technical vocabulary

Specialized Disciplinary Indexes, Abstracts/Databases:

CINAHL This link opens in a new window
Nursing
Journal articles for nursing and allied health. Full text for 600 journals. 1982-present. English language journal literature in the nursing and allied health disciplines. Indexing to 900 journals, with full text links to 600 journal titles. Index covers nursing, dental hygiene, cardiopulmonary technology, emergency services, health education, medical and laboratory technology, medical assistants, medical records. Important database for nursing students. NOTE: Allows 12 users at a time. If you are denied access, please wait a few minutes and try again.

URL: https://research-ebsco-com.clarkcollege.idm.oclc.org/c/vqwdh7/search/advanced/filters?db=c8h
ERIC EBSCOhost This link opens in a new window
Education
Articles from journals and documents related to education. Indexes and abstracts for more than 1,000 educational and education-related journals. Access to more than 2,200 ERIC-digest documents, full text from 1995-present.

URL: https://clarkcollege.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://research-ebsco-com.clarkcollege.idm.oclc.org/c/vqwdh7/search/advanced/filters?db=eric
PubMed This link opens in a new window
Medicine
More than 34 million citations for biomedical literature from MEDLINE, life science journals, and online books. Students should consider using EBSCO version of MEDLINE for an easier interface and more full text.

URL: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/
Academic Search Complete (EBSCOhost) This link opens in a new window Articles from journals, magazines, and newspapers for all academic disciplines.
Articles from journals, magazines, and newspapers for all academic disciplines. This collection includes the following full-text content, in addition to thousands of searchable cited resources:
3,618 active, full-text, non-open access journals and magazines
3,099 active, full-text, peer-reviewed, non-open access journals
1,298 active, full-text, peer-reviewed, non-open access journals with no embargo
2,444 active, full-text, non-open access journals indexed in Web of Science or Scopus

This database is hosted on EBSCO platform and includes Academic Search Premier.

URL: https://clarkcollege.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://research-ebsco-com.clarkcollege.idm.oclc.org/c/vqwdh7/search/advanced/filters?db=a9h
Gale Academic OneFile This link opens in a new window Articles from scholarly journals and other trusted periodicals. Best for academic research.
Articles from scholarly journals and other trusted periodicals. Best for academic research.

URL: https://clarkcollege.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://link.gale.com/apps/AONE?u=clark_integrated
ProQuest This link opens in a new window Articles from academic journals, popular magazines, and newspapers.
Articles from academic journals, popular magazines, and newspapers. By default this ProQuest link searches Research Library, Family Health Database, National Newspapers, and ABI/INFORM Trade & Industry; full text and graphics available.

Explore ProQuest's Youtube Channel for a series of training videos.

URL: https://clarkcollege.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/advanced

Articles: Types of Periodicals

What is a periodical?

Examples:

Value or Use:

Best Newspaper Indexes/Databases:

Examples:

Value or Use:

Best Magazine Indexes/Databases:

Examples:

Value or Use:

General Indexes/Databases:

Examples:

Value or Use:

General Indexes/Databases:

Examples:

Value or Use:

Specialized Disciplinary Indexes, Abstracts/Databases: