ContinueUsing & Evaluating Print
Resources
Lesson 5
Print Indexes
Print periodical indexes perform the same function as online periodical indexes, i.e., they help you locate articles in magazines and journals. However, there are a few differences between the two. On the negative side, print indexes do not contain the full text of articles, they only provide citation information. Print indexes must be searched one year at a time unlike online indexes which can be searched across multiple years. On the positive side, print indexes allow you see how a subject fits into a field of knowledge better then online indexes. This is because print indexes show you cross references and subject subheadings. They are also easier to scan for information and as a result researchers are much more likely to locate information by serendipity. Because print indexes are easy to browse, researchers often locate subject headings that they would never have seen using an online index. These subject headings can then be used to locate information in online indexes.
Print periodical indexes also provide researchers with instructions on how to use the index. All good indexes provide instructions on their use and tell the user how they were created and the selection criteria that the editors used in selecting the resources indexed. Most online indexes do not provide users with such helpful information. Online indexes seem to assume that people already know how to use them, and that most people don't care about the selection criteria or the editorial policies. However, selection criteria and editorial policies are very important things to know since they help the researcher determine the value and quality of the index.
Many different companies produce print periodical indexes. The H.W. Wilson Company is one of the oldest and most respected of these indexing companies. You will find H.W. Wilson indexes in most academic and public libraries. In this Tutorial we will focus on three of the H.W. Wilson indexes. We will also look at the Alternative Press Index published by the Alternative Press Center, which indexes magazines and journals not covered by other indexing companies.
The first thing a researcher must understand about using indexes is that no one periodical index covers every magazine or journal published. In fact, most indexes only index a small subset of the magazines and journals produced in the world. The second thing a researcher must know about using periodical indexes is that no library subscribes to every magazine or journal listed in every periodical index.
Some periodical indexes are published in specific subject areas and some are designed as general in scope. For example, the H.W. Wilson Company publishes separate indexes in the sciences, the humanities, and the social sciences. These indexes cover scholarly journals written primarily for upper division undergraduates and graduate students. H.W. Wilson also publishes a general magazine index that covers more popular magazines in a number of different subject areas. Each periodical indexing company uses specific selection criteria to determine which magazines or journals will be included in the index.
In Lesson 4 we demonstrated how to use online databases to search for information on the genetic engineering of food. We will use this same topic to search for information in print indexes. We are using the same topic to give you a better idea of how print and online indexes compare with each other. We start by examining Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature produced by the H.W. Wilson Company
Now that you have looked at the Readers' Guide and located information from general interest magazines, it is time to locate articles from scholarly journals. There is an H.W. Wilson index of scholarly journals named General Science Index that would be perfect for our topic. The General Science Index can be found in most college libraries.
You may be asking yourself: "How can I tell whether a periodical is a scholarly journal or a general interest magazine?" We have developed a guide that will help you determine whether a periodical is scholarly or general. You can print this guide for future use.
If you would like to locate information about the genetic engineering of food that comes from an economic, social or political perspective you should look at the
To find information about the genetic engineering of food from a left/progressive perspective you should look at the
Now that we have covered the lessons on using print periodical indexes, it is time for you to use them yourself. Go to print periodical index area of your library. If you don't know where this is, ask a librarian.
Print off the Periodical Indexes Assignment and see how you do. When you are done continue with the Encyclopedias Lesson.