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Overview
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Why use articles?
- Articles contain very current and very specific information
on your topic, usually more current than books. New and original
research is often announced by way of an article in a scholarly
journal. More importantly, in scholarly journals the quality is
controlled by "peer review", in which scholars check each
other's work.
- An article on a similar subject in different kinds of
publications will have diferent viewpoints. For instance, an
article on the future of the interstate highway system might be
quite different in a daily newspaper (the Washington Post),
a business trade publication (Bicycle Retailer and Industry
News), and an academic journal (the Journal of Financial
and Quantitative Analysis). The type of publication you use
will depend on your topic.
●
What are index
databases for?
You will use index databases to find
citations
for articles (or the full text of the article) on your subject.
Indexes are usually subject-specific. Generally,
each index covers only one large subject area.
The material found in index
databases can also include conference proceedings, book chapters,
technical reports, research reports, opinion papers, essays, and
so forth. Be aware of how to tell the differences among them:
- A typical journal article citation looks
like this:
Moore, Daniele. Code-Switching and Learning in
the Classroom. Bilingual Education & Bilingualism. v5 n5
p279-93 Sept 2002.
- A typical conference proceeding article citation
looks like this:
Chen, Z N; Chia, M Y W. Antennas for Personal
Communications. International Conference on Image Processing
and its Applications : [proceedings] / 491, no. 1, (2003):
24 (4 pages)
- A book chapter citation looks like:
Person, Jill, 1998. Issues of Native Language. In Collected
Wisdom : American Indian Education, L. M. Cleary, T. D.
Peacock, eds. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
● What's the
difference between scholarly journals and popular magazines?
Many professors require that you use and cite only "scholarly
journals" in your research. Why? Look at the table below for some
of the reasons why.
| |
Scholarly Journals |
News Magazines and Newspapers |
Popular Journals |
| Topics |
Original scientific research, commentary of
scholars and specialists in the field. In-depth analysis. |
Political, economic, and social news. |
Hobbies, sports, entertainment, fashion. |
| Authorship |
Articles written by experts in the field.
The author's name is always provided, along with academic
credentials. |
Staff reporters, who may have observed
events first hand. |
Staff writers, freelance writers. |
| Language and Audience |
Technical or scientific jargon. Written for
scientists and researchers in the field. |
Common language. Written for a general
audience. |
Common language. Written for a general
audience. |
| Format and Structure |
Articles are organized into sections,
including an abstract, introduction, literature review,
methodology, results, conclusion, and a bibliography. If
applicable, articles include charts, tables, diagrams, and
graphs. |
Glossy, with many ads, photos, and
illustrations. |
Glossy and eye-catching. Many, many ads. |
| Editors |
Articles are reviewed and evaluated by a
board of experts in the field before they are published.
(Called peer review or refereed journals.) |
Articles are reviewed by staff editors. |
Articles are reviewed by staff editors. |
| Examples |
Journal of Marriage and the Family,
American Journal of Mathematics |
U.S.News&World Report, Time, the Washington
Post |
Sports Illustrated, Good Housekeeping,
People |
For more on this see
Distinguishing Scholarly From Non-Scholarly Periodicals: A
Checklist of Criteria from Cornell University and
Academic Journal or Not?, from Concordia College.
● Shortcuts
- Branch out from one good article - Use an index to find one
or two articles in scholarly journals that are
exactly on your topic. Articles in scholarly journals usually
have very extensive bibliographies that will lead you to
additional material.
- Use material that you already have in hand - Look at the
bibliography in your textbook, preferably at the end of the
chapter on your topic. You may find there some citations of
books and articles on your topic.
- Use a good encyclopedia article - Articles in
discipline-specific encyclopedias (such as The Encyclopedia
of Psychology) usually have short bibliographies of the best
resources on a particular subject.
- Find a dissertation - Doctoral dissertations are usually
exhaustive studies of very specific subjects. Use the index to
dissertations to find one or two that are exactly on your topic
and study their bibliographies. They will lead you to quite a
bit more resources on that topic. For more see
Dissertations.
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