Periodicals are useful for three primary reasons: they...
- provide a wealth of valuable information that is current and timely
- contain the latest discussions on a topic
- cover topics not yet published in book form
Periodicals are created for different audiences. Some are for general readers and others for scholars and researchers.
Although the terms periodical, journal, serial and magazine have slightly different definitions, you will likely hear them used interchangeably. These are works that come out on a regular basis (weekly, monthly, annually) and contain articles written by various authors.
Google Scholar is a freely accessible web search engine that indexes the full text of scholarly literature (journals) across an array of publishing formats and disciplines. It includes most peer-reviewed online journals. Use FIND IT@UST Libraries to get the full-text if not available in Google Scholar.