Evaluating information: Journals and journal articles

Contents

1. Evaluating information: Journals and journal articles
2. What are journals?
3. Why should you read journals?
4. Accessing journals in the Library
5. Types of journal
6. Academic journals, also known as peer-reviewed or refereed journals
   1. Activity 1: Academic journals
   2. Activity 2: Peer-reviewed journals
7. Finding and accessing peer-reviewed journal articles
8. Trade publications (Trade press)
9. Professional journals
10. Popular magazines
11. Evaluating journal articles
    1. Purpose and content
    2. Authority
    3. Currency
    4. Objectivity/Bias
12. Summary

Accessing journals in the Library

The Library owns many paper or hard copy journals in addition to having access to over 50,000 electronic journals (eJournals). To find and access eJournals and articles in full text you should use NORA: Find E-Journals by title.

If this proves unsuccessful then you should use the Library Catalogue which will show you if we have a particular journal title. It won't show you the contents, or individual articles, but will lead you to details about the journal, so you can look at the paper copy.

When searching the Library Catalogue, a paper copy is known as a Serial and an online version is known as an eJournal. Sometimes the Library will have a journal in both formats.

To work through a practical exercise on finding journal articles click on the Searching tools section of SkillsPlus. Here you can access either a printable helpguide: Finding journal articles from a reference or a short video eJournal articles - how to find from a reference (contains audio).