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Frederick E. Berry Library and Learning Commons

Professor Kitanov's Library Exercise - First Year Seminar Fall 2022

Making sense of the information explosion

Step One: Search for Scholarly Journals from the Berry Library Homepage

Step One: Search by keywords in "Journal Title Search":

Tips:

  • Even if you don't know the name of a specific journal, you can still find journals by entering key words of subjects in your major fields.
  • For example, suppose my major field will be "American history." I search for journals with the phrase "American history" in their titles:

 

Step Two: Examine the List of Journals from the Keyword Search

Step Two:

  • Browse the list of journals that have your key words in their titles.
  • Notice that you can search within specific subjects by clicking in the left frame.

For example:

 

Step Three: Evaluate your Journals

Step Three:

  • Click on a journal title of interest and look at the list of articles that appear.
  • Do you like the articles? 
  • Do they relate to your major field?
  • If you like the journal, proceed to Step Four to find the journal publication information.
  • If you don't like the journal, return to your list of journal titles and make another selection

Step Four: Find Editorial Information

Step Four: Find the journal editor(s) and publication dates:

  • If the Library has your journal in print, identifying the editor(s) is simple. 
  • You just look inside the cover of an issue.
  • Unfortunately, things get complicated with digital copies of journals.
  • Databases do not often index the "Masthead" - where the editors' names are published. 
  • You have to do some detective work on the journal's web site. 
  • And, finding the information will vary with each journal!
  • If you get stuck, please email me: ndennis@salemstate.edu or text 978-587-1312

Science

Step Five: Search Wikipedia to Find the Beginning Date of the Journal

  • Finding the latest date of a journal is easy.
    • The journal web site will show the current issue.
    • So will the journal link that from the Journal Title List on the Library home page.
  • Use Wikipedia to quickly find the beginning date of the journal!
  • Wikipedia provides publication details in the right frame: For example:

Subjects: Philosophy
Tags: Kitanov