What is a Journal?

A journal is a scholarly version of a magazine. You are asked to read journal articles as part of your research for a paper, because journal articles provide the latest research results and academic writing on specific topics.

In libraries, journals are often referred to as "periodicals" or "serials". They are items we subscribe to, rather than purchase once. Issues arrive continuously, and they are handled differently than books. Also included as periodical literature are newspapers and magazines.

The latest issues of hard-copy (print) periodicals are kept in the Current Periodicals Reading Room, which is on the Main (2nd) floor of the library. Once a full volume is here (several issues make up a volume), we have them bound with a hard cover and they move to their permanent location in the stacks.

Only about 5% of our journals are hard-copy; the majority are only available online, and are never physically in the building. Some periodicals only come in microfilm.

Use TOPCAT or the Journal Titles Available Online to find out where a particular issue of a journal can be found.

TOPCAT - the Library Catalogue

Individual journal articles are not found in the library catalogue. TOPCAT provides titles, call numbers, subscription history, locations, and the general subjects of all journals, newspapers and magazines in the library collection.  However, it does not include details on articles found within each volume. An article will only appear in TOPCAT if an instructor has placed a photocopy on Reserve.

Use TOPCAT to look up the title of the journal, then check to see if we have the volume/issue with the article you want. TOPCAT includes links to online journals, as well as the call numbers of print journals.

How do you know which journal and volume/issue has an article you want? Use an index.

Indexes 

Indexes are the "gateway" to finding articles in periodical literature. Use an index to find out when and where articles were published. Just like an index at the back of a book tells you where to find information within that book, a periodical index tells you where to find articles in journals and newspapers. Use an index to look up your topic, and it tells you which journals have articles on that topic.

Indexes don't tell you what's in a particular library; they tell you what's been published. Libraries all over the world subscribe to the same indexes. So once you find out which journals have the articles, you need to see if your library has those journals.

Indexes do not normally provide articles; instead they direct you to the journal in which an article has been published. They do this by providing a citation which describes the article.  Some indexes also include links to full articles online. Our Resource Locator works with indexes to help you locate articles available to the Trent Library. (See the tutorial for finding online and print journals.)

The information found in indexes is not freely available on the web. We only have access to the indexes if we have subscribed to them, and we only have access to the articles if we have subscribed to the journal.

Most indexes are online (sometimes just called "databases"), but a few remain available only in print. Most of our online databases are accessible through the library website, under Directory of Online Databases or Resources by Subject.   However, you must be on-campus, or eligible to use our proxy server, in order to access these services, as they are restricted to current Trent students, staff, and faculty.

Locating the Journals

Once you find citations for articles that look useful for your research,  determine whether the Trent Library has access to the journals. The important information is the journal name, date, volume and issue number.

Then you can:

• search TOPCAT for the journal by title,
• use to link you to the text, or
• search Journal Titles Available Online.

Sometimes you need to do all 3 to find what you need. Some methods work better than others for some titles.

is a service that links online indexes with our available journals. When you see this icon in a citation, click on it to find out if Trent has access to the article online. If it does, click on the link to get to the article. There's also an option to check TOPCAT for print copies. Sometimes TOPCAT will find a journal that "Get it!" doesn't find, and vice-versa. It's a good idea to check both.

Articles published in journals that are not at Trent can be requested from RACER (Interlibrary Loans) Office. Check the webpage for information.

Newspapers

See our webpage on newspapers at Trent for list of available newpapers.

Helpful Hints

Indexes are marvelous tools, but they take time to learn and to use.   Remember these guidelines:

• Be patient and persistent. Try lots of searches in several different indexes. Your first search may not be the best way to find it.

• Be creative with your search terms. If you don't find anything with one term, try another. Think of other ways of approaching the topic.  There may be a special "thesaurus" or "index" to help you find the best term. See our Online Tutorial on Keyword Searching for more information.

• Don't feel foolish or give up if you don't understand how an index works. Ask for help at the Help Desk.

• Finding journal articles for your paper may seem like an impossible task and too much work when you begin your research. But the more you do it, the easier it gets. A successful search will be worth the effort.

Need More Assistance?

• Interested in a workshop?  Call the Information Services Department at 748-1011 ext.7420 if your class, or 5 or more of your classmates, would like group instruction on library research.

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Last Modified: July 16, 2010
Maintained by , Thomas J. Bata Library.