Researching Community Colleges 

GALILEO is the name of GSC's collection of databases.   These databases contain full-text journal articles, newspapers, reference materials, and other items for your research papers and projects.  Below are links to specific databases you might find useful for this course.  You will need a password to access these from home; the password changes once a semester.  To learn how to get a password, ask your librarian or click the "Passwords" tab.   

Periodicals

Due to the fact that books require such an immense devotion of writing and research, many authors and people working in fields that require faster publication of information rely primarily on periodicals or articles as an information medium.    Faster publication not only allows authors to stay on top of the current research but offers students and researchers access to the most current information in a field.  Articles are generally shorter than books but they generally contain the same quality information.  Beyond that, defining what kind of article you are looking at has a lot to with the intended audience, which will review here.

Magazine Articles

Articles in general interest magazine such as Newsweek, Spin, or People are geared toward a wide audience.  In fact you can find them most anywhere – libraries, grocery stores, book stores, convenience stores, etc.  The headlines and large type are meant to grab the attention of an everyday shopper or reader.  Most magazines try and appeal to a broad audience and the editor, who controls the published content, selects articles partially based on their overall "fit" with the subject or theme of the magazine.  Having an editor control a large part of the publishing content decisions is what sets magazines apart from other periodicals.

Journal Articles

On the other hand, getting an article published in an academic journal is a little more involved.  First of all, most authors must submit their work to a peer-review process.  Peer-review is exactly what it sounds like: a bunch of your peers (experts in the field) look over your work and judge its contribution to the subject area and quality of writing.  It is then judged against other submissions and if it is deemed worthy then the article is accepted for publication.  So instead of the article being judged by one individual such as an editor it is judged by a group of peers that are familiar with the subject.  Journal articles are also different than magazines due to the fact that the academic journals they are printed aren't as widely available.    Beyond libraries, most academic journals aren't readily available to everyday readers like magazines.

Trade Publications

Trade publications fall in between general interest magazines and academic journals. They are written to a particular industry or trade and are often published by professonal associations. Articles are written by practicioners or subject experts however they do not go through the rigous peer review process that academic journals experience. In most electronic databases this type of publication is sorted with magazines because of the lack of peer-review.

Comparison Chart

Newspaper Articles

Newspaper articles are similar to magazines in that they are intended for a wide audience.  Newspapers are readily available in a variety of places and contain information that is extremely current and covers a range of topics.  Newspapers are a fantastic source for up-to-date information on current events in the world.  The publication process is similar to that of the magazine in that there is an editorial board which controls the publication of the material.

• Plan your search before you begin; think of keywords that will help you search.
• Pay attention to the dates of articles if you have research that needs a current topic.
• Limit your search as much as you can.  Read the options on the page! 
• Make sure you notice suggestions provided; sometimes the search terms the database gives you will yield more results.
• Check your spelling if you get no matches.
• If you find an article that is helpful to your research, look at the SUBJECTS that are given for that article.  You can click those and the computer will search again using those terms.  This helps you find similar articles.  
• Look at the GALILEO tutorial for databases, HERE.