A magazine is a collection of articles and images about diverse topics of popular interest and current events. Usually these articles are brief (3-4 pages), written by journalists, lack bibliographies, and are geared toward the general public. Magazines may cover "serious" material, but to find consistently scholarly information you should use journals. See more about magaines @ http://library.ccsu.edu/TILT/nf/module1/magazines.htm
Databases contain bibliographic citations for articles in magazines, journals, and newspapers which can be retrieved through searching. You may find abstracts (brief summaries) of the articles and often the full-text or entire content of articles as they originally appeared in print. Use a database when you want to find articles on your topic in magazines, journals or newspapers. You can certainly browse for ideas for research topics by using a general or specific database.
A journal is a collection of articles usually written by scholars in an academic or professional field. An editorial board reviews articles to decide whether they should be accepted. Articles in journals can cover very specific topics or narrow fields of research. Since journals are published on a regular or periodic basis they are grouped in the category called "periodicals." Electronic journals, called e-journals, are published on the Web by some scholarly organizations and are made available to you from your library.
Use journals when you:
Find additional information about journals @ http://library.ccsu.edu/TILT/nf/module1/journal.htm
