Research Guides: A Guide to Library Research: Articles

Types of Periodicals

Articles are published in periodicals. Periodicals are any source that is published on a regular basis such as a daily newspaper, a weekly or monthly magazine, or a monthly academic journal.

There are four main types of periodicals available through the HonCC Library:

Icon representing a peer-reviewed journal Scholarly, Peer-review, Academic, or Research Journals

magazine icon Trade, Professional, and Industry Journals

magazine icon Commentary/Opinion and Popular Magazines

newspaper icon Newspapers

Icon representing a peer-reviewed journal Scholarly, Peer-review, Academic, or Research Journals

Content: Peer-reviewed* scholarly/research articles that share primary research that is conducted using a research method. Also includes non-peer-reviewed content such as book reviews, opinion/editorial pieces, or other articles not sharing research.
Authors: Written by scholars, researchers, experts, specialists, professionals in the field, scientists, professors, or PhD students.
Audience: Written for scholars in the same field.
Sources/Citations: Numerous citations/references from scholarly publications and others types of supporting resources.
Images/Graphics: Limited to no images, unless demonstrating the research. Charts and graphs used to detail findings and results.
Language: Lingo, or terminology, related to the field.
Examples: Science, The Future of Children, JAMA, Pacific Science, Journal of American Culture, Criminology

*Peer-review: Before publication, the articles are reviewed by other scholars in the same field and deemed worthy of being published, meaning that the research was well-done and the results of the research add to the body of work that has come before from other research.

Where to find scholarly peer-reviewed journal articles in the library's databases:

Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window
Research across all subject areas from more than 9,000 full text journals; over 13,800 indexed & abstracted journals. Selected PDF content dating back as far as 1887. Updated daily.
JSTOR This link opens in a new window
Archival journal and book collections include more than 2,000 journals and 7,000 books in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences. JSTOR offers 15 Arts & Sciences collections that span 60 disciplines, and the Life Science Collection comprises more than 160 journals in the field sciences, and broad coverage of the health sciences.
Science Direct This link opens in a new window
Selected full-text scholarly journal titles available from the following subject collections: business, management, accounting; earth/planetary sciences; health sciences; physics and astronomy; and agricultural and biological sciences.

Databases with Peer-Reviewed Articles
Full list of HonCC Library's databases with access to scholarly peer-reviewed journal articles.
Library Search
Access to many of the library's scholarly peer-reviewed journal articles via the HonCC Everything Search with the Peer-Reviewed Journals filter applied.

magazine icon Consumer, Commentary/Opinion, or Popular Magazines

Content: Short articles, interviews, or speeches focused on current events, social and political issues, pop culture, and a variety of special interest like sports, fashion, news, art, parenting, health, cooking, science, history, etc.
Authors: Staff and free-lance writers who are not necessarily experts on the topics they are writing about.
Audience: Written for a general audience.
Sources/Citations: Some in-text citations, but typically no or few citations.
Images/Graphics: Colorful images related to articles, as well as advertisements for products and services.
Language: Written at a lower reading-level for a broad audience, but sometimes limited jargon related to a field.
Examples: Surfer, Newsweek, Time, Vogue, Rolling Stone, Sports Illustrated

Where to find magazine articles in the library's databases:

Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window
Research across all subject areas from more than 9,000 full text journals; over 13,800 indexed & abstracted journals. Selected PDF content dating back as far as 1887. Updated daily.
Flipster This link opens in a new window
This e-resource provides access to digital magazines; read them online using your computer or mobile device. Popular titles include The Atlantic, Teaching Young Children, Exchange, YC: Young Children, Contexts: Understanding People in Their Social Worlds, and more.
Back issues are included, but vary by title. Printing is enabled when accessing a magazine from a desktop computer, but not from mobile devices.
MAS Complete This link opens in a new window
Full text for more than 540 popular, high school magazines. MAS Complete also provides more than 440 full text reference books, 85,670 biographies, 105,786 primary source documents, and an Image Collection of over 502,000 photos, maps & flags, color PDFs and expanded full text backfiles (back to 1975) for key magazines.

Library Search
Access to many of the library's subscribed magazine articles via the HonCC Everything Search. Also provides holdings information for the physical magazines in the library.
A-Z Article Database List
Complete list of the library's article databases.

magazine icon Trade, Professional, and Industry Journals

Content: Practical information in short articles on news, trends, new products, the current industry, product and company info, statistics, forecasts, and interviews related to various trades or industries (fashion, cosmetology, carpentry, welding, firefighting, law enforcement, architecture, etc.).
Authors: Professionals, practitioners, or experts in the field.
Audience: Written for professionals working in the field.
Sources/Citations: Sometimes in-text citations or bibliographies are included.
Images/Graphics: Colorful images, charts, tables, or graphs related to articles, as well as advertisements for products and services related to the field.
Language: Straight-forward language with some jargon or lingo of the field.
Examples: Architectural Record, Police Chief, Wood Workers Journal, Welding Journal, Fire Engineering, Electronic Musician

Where to find trade magazine articles in the library's databases:

Vocational Studies Complete This link opens in a new window
Comprehensive, full-text publications for vocational programs. This unique database covers varied topics geared toward career & technical education programs. Source content from magazines, academic journals, and a wide selection of trade publications in all vocational fields and occupations.
Vocational and Career Collection This link opens in a new window
Full text for nearly 340 trade and industry-related periodicals.
Flipster This link opens in a new window
This e-resource provides access to digital magazines; read them online using your computer or mobile device. Popular titles include The Atlantic, Teaching Young Children, Exchange, YC: Young Children, Contexts: Understanding People in Their Social Worlds, and more.
Back issues are included, but vary by title. Printing is enabled when accessing a magazine from a desktop computer, but not from mobile devices.

Library Search
Access to many of the library's subscribed trade magazine articles via the HonCC Everything Search. Also provides holdings information for the physical magazines in the library.

magazine icon Local, National, and Global Newspapers

Content: Short articles, feature articles, and opinion pieces on news, current events, social and political issues, business news, pop culture news, sports news, etc. May also contain obituaries, advertisements, weather, reader's opinions, business info, classified ads, entertainment (crosswords, comic strips, horoscopes).
Authors: Journalists, staff writers, and free-lance journalists/writers.
Audience: Written for a general audience.
Sources/Citations: Complete citations are rare, but there are sometimes partial citations in-text.
Images/Graphics: Black and white or color images like photographs, drawings, comic strips, advertisements, charts, graphs, etc.
Language: Written at a lower reading-level for a broad audience.
Examples: Honolulu Star Advertiser, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, The Daily Telegraph, Asia Times

Note: Most newspaper provide online access to their articles. Some newspapers provide free access while others are by paid subscription only or limited access to free articles without a paid subscription.

Where to find newspaper articles in the library's databases:

Honolulu Newspapers This link opens in a new window
Full text access to Honolulu's local newspapers (past & present).
Honolulu Star-Advertiser: June 7, 2010 - present;
Honolulu Advertiser: November 30, 2002 - May 15, 2010;
Honolulu Star-Bulletin: March 18, 1996 - June 6, 2010.
Newspaper Source Plus This link opens in a new window
Access to more than 860 full-text newspapers, providing more than 35 million full-text articles. In addition, the database features more than 857,000 television and radio news transcripts.
US West Newsstream This link opens in a new window
Regional news content, as well as archives which stretch back to the 1980s featuring newspapers, newswires, and news sites in active full-text format. West Newsstream covers news sources from Alaska, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and Washington. Includes access to Hawaii newspapers: Honolulu Star-Advertiser, Honolulu Advertiser, and Honolulu Star-Bulletin; coverage varies for each title.
Newswires This link opens in a new window
Near real-time access to top world-wide news from Associated Press, United Press International, PR Newswire, Xinhua, CNN Wire, and Business Wire on a continuous basis.
Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window
Research across all subject areas from more than 9,000 full text journals; over 13,800 indexed & abstracted journals. Selected PDF content dating back as far as 1887. Updated daily.