Skip to Main Content

HIS-3080 Introduction to Archives

This course guide will provide students with a single launching point for resources for their class.

Table showing differences between scholarly journals and magazines. Most information is repeated in the text below.

Scholarly journals have articles written by researchers who are considered experts in a field. These journals are also known as "peer-reviewed," "refereed" or "academic" journals. American School Board Journal is a scholarly journal.

Popular magazines have articles written by writers or journalists. Time and Newsweek are examples of popular journals.

Need help? Click here.

Diagram explaining the relationship between articles, journals, and databases. It is explained in the text below.

Articles are traditionally found within journals in either print or electronic format. They are written by scholars, focused on a single topic, include citations and bibliographies (sometimes called references or works cited) and are considered academic sources if they have been peer reviewed.

An Electronic Journal (or E-journal) is a traditional journal that is in an electronic format; either because it was originally created that way, or because someone took a print journal article and scanned it to make it available electronically. They typically contain multiple articles, are published at consistent intervals, and are focused on a specific subject area. 

A Database is what is created when a large number of electronic journals are put in one place and a search interface (usually a search box) is added to help find what you need. Both databases and electronic journals can be subject specific. Many journals are only available through your library and often contain the full text of the articles. When you have a database that only has the title or abstract, but not the full text, it is usually referred to as an Index.