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Magazines, Journals, & News (Periodicals)

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Magazines, Journals, & News
(Periodicals)

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with a reference librarian

We can help you:
Find or narrow a paper topic,
locate appropriate sources,
and more.

Contact us:
refdesk@augsburg.edu
612-330-1604

 
Lindell Library Article Search

What is a Periodical?

Periodicals are publications that are published at regular intervals. Newspapers, magazines, scholarly journals, and newsletters are all periodicals. Lindell Library makes available a wide variety of periodicals to you on all topics, in formats ranging from paper to microform to digital.

Print Periodicals

All periodical titles can be found by searching by title in our catalog. Recent print periodicals are available on the street level on the shelves just past the Learning Commons area. They are shelved in alphabetical order by title. Past issues that have been collected into bound volumes are on the basement level, also in alphabetical order by title.

 

There is a small collection of popular titles like Scientific American, Outside, Ebony, and Vogue on display in the seating area in the Learning Commons.

Electronic Journals

We have access to a large number of electronic journals. These can be found in our catalog by searching by title. You can access the journal through the catalog by clicking on the “Access Online” button.

 

Electronic journals are also accessible by searching any of our article databases, found in our Databases A-Z list.

Microfilm

We have historical newspapers like the Minneapolis Tribune available on microfilm. These can be found in the cabinets at the beginning of the street level reference shelving. You can get help operating either of our two microfilm readers by asking the staff at the Learning Commons desk.

What is a Scholarly Article?

While describing research projects, you might hear your professors at Augsburg use any or all of the following terms to describe resources:

  • scholarly article

  • peer-reviewed article

  • refereed article

When they say you need to use these, your professors are asking you to use articles that are primarily academic in nature. While it might be acceptable for some projects to cite an article from the latest copy of Time magazine, usually your faculty members want to see you using and citing scholarly articles as the basis for your research.

Many students may have already had limited access to scholarly articles from high school or public libraries. However, college libraries tend to focus on these types of resources, so you will have much more access to scholarly material at Augsburg than you might have had in the past.

Use the chart below to help you compare Popular Articles and Scholarly Articles:

Popular Articles

Scholarly Articles

written for the general public

written for readers in a specific academic field

address current events, general interest items and are often entertaining

meant to report research results

written by magazine staff members

written by authorities in their fields; look for author credentials

may mention sources but seldom cite them formally

cite their sources in endnotes, footnotes and bibliographies

no peer-review process; usually only editor reviewed

peer-review process; critiqued by other experts in field before publication

written in non-technical language, for anyone to understand

written in vocabulary from a specific discipline, for experts (professors, researchers, and students)

advertisements and illustrations are numerous, colorful and add marketing appeal

almost no advertisements and illustrations are charts, diagrams and graphs intended to visually communicate research data and concepts

published for profit

published by professional organization or university press to disseminate knowledge

are less credible

have more authority