Your guide to finding magazine articles

It is a set of books—paperback and hardback—that serve as an index for topics that have been written about in popular magazines.

 Magazines contain information that is more current, or up-to-date, than books.  Magazines can give you the latest statistics on your topic to include in your research.  Magazines can also be a valuable resource for information from the past which was noteworthy.  Readers’ Guide is published to help you find information in more than 75 of the best magazines.

 This index lists AUTHORS and SUBJECTS alphabetically together and in bold type.  It is published monthly in paperback and yearly in hardback.  Like the card catalog, large subjects are divided into subtopics.  Some entries are “See” and “See also” to direct you from a topic heading that is not used to another which is used, or to additional topics that may be helpful.

In the front of each Readers’ Guide volume are extra pages to help you if you have questions.  Periodicals Indexed  Abbreviations  Sample Entries  Suggestions for the use of the Abridged Readers’ Guide to Periodical Literature

 Use your imagination to think of several different ways a topic may be classified.  Find out which magazines your library has available.  Consult the abbreviations lists in the front of each Guide if you have questions.  Don’t give up searching if you can’t find entries for your topic in one volume.

Title of Article Author’s Name Subject Heading CANCER Cell phones and cancer risk. C.Cohen. Science News v178 no2 p8-21 Name of journal Ag or magazine Volume Page Date Number Number

Example: Rock music See also Alternative rock music Heavy metal music Punk rock Social Aspects School of Rock. L. Widdicombe. il The New Yorker. V85 no43 p51-5 Ja

 First, go to Readers’ Guide and select a year to start your search.  Look, in alphabetical order, for your topic.  Read the article titles in the entries and choose the one(s) you want to read.  Fill out a Magazine Slip with the information from the entry for each magazine you want, then hand it to one of the Librarians.