What is a journal?
Journals are a primary means of communication among professionals and/or scholars in a particular field. Articles in journals report on original research or experiments. Before an article is published it is reviewed by a panel of experts. This review process is known as peer review or juried review. Articles that go through this process are "refereed". Journal articles will almost always have a detailed bibliography or works cited list. Journals are usually published by associations, universities or research institutions.
What is a magazine?
Magazines are usually commercially published, and cover current or popular topics. This type of publication can provide a good overview or summary of a topic. Magazine articles are written can be opinionated or represent a very specific point of view. Magazines are illustratred and likely carry advertising.
In addition to the databases listed under Best bets, you may find these resources useful for researching topics related to environmental technology:
Resources covering all disciplines of engineering, including leading textbooks - fully searchable online, and includes interactive learning tools such as instructional videos, graphs, tables and downloadable spreadsheet calculators.
CBCA Complete includes scholarly journal articles, trade publications, dissertations, books, newspapers and magazines.
Covers environmental issues: global warming, green building, pollution, sustainable agriculture, renewable energy, and recycling.
Scholarly articles in the social sciences/sciences are written by academics and specialists in the field and include findings from primary/original research. It is not recommended that you read a scholarly article from beginning to end, rather....
| 1. Read and consider the article title |
Will give you clues about the topic |
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| 2. Scan the headings/sections of the article |
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| 3. Read the abstract |
This is the summary of the article, usually dense with information.
Ask yourself: is the article relevant for your research topic? |
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| 4. Read the first few paragraphs of the Discussion section |
This section may also be called the Conclusion
Ask yourself: is the article still relevant for your research topic? |
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| 5. Read the remaining sections of the article |
Before you read a section, take the heading and convert into a question. Suggested order of reading: Introduction, Discussion, Results, then the Methods section. |
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| 6. Re-read the abstract and Discussion section |
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| 7. Examine the Works Cited/References |
Make note of other relevant studies on the topic and locate these publications through Library databases |
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What is included in Google Scholar?
Peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, abstracts and articles, from academic publishers, professional societies, preprint repositories, universities and other scholarly organizations.
By using the link to Google Scholar provided by the Camosun Library, you'll get links to the fulltext when the library subscribes to the journal, if it is from an open access journal, or if the author has posted the fulltext on the open web.
For more information, check out Camosun's guide to Google Scholar.
