Research Guide for WR 121 - Professor Grimm

Provided by Bryan Miyagishima, Reference and Instruction Librarian, LBCC Library
     email: miyagib@linnbenton.edu  or phone: 541.917.4646

Popular Magazines vs. Journals

As you begin your research, it's imperative that you are able to identify some of the qualities of "popular" and "scholarly" publications. Information provided by the TILT (Texas Information Literacy Tutorial) tutorial helps us to understand some of the differences.

How to find scholarly journals in the Ebsco databases

Step 1: Select the database most relevant to your topic and needs
Ebsco provides numerous databases covering a wide range of subjects and containing a broad range of publications. Here are a few examples. Academic Search Premier contains articles from journals, popular magazines, and newspapers in a wide range of subject areas. Masterfile Premier contains mainly articles from popular magazines on a wide range of subjects. HealthSource Consumer Edition provides articles mainly from popular health publications. BusinessSource Premier contains articles from both popular and scholarly publications in the areas of business and economics. The full menu of Ebsco databases will provide you an explanation of the contents of each.
Step 2: Using the limiters provided by the database, make sure that the following are checked if you wish to find journal articles.
  • Select "Full Text" if you are searching from your home computer and only wish to find those articles you can view on your computer.
  • Select "Scholarly (Peer Reviewed) Journals" to limit your search only to those types of publications
  • Select "References Available" for longer articles. Remember, scholarly journals will also have book reviews and editorials in addition to articles. This limiter will weed those out.

Recommended sources for your essay

     Search these catalogs for books on your topic

     Recommended Book Series available at the LBCC Library

Magazines, Journals, and Newspapers (Off campus? Ask your instructor for passwords)

     General Topics      Other Topics - view the full range of Ebsco Databases.

     Newspapers

Other Resources

Help with citations