Access thousands of full-text journals covering information spanning a broad range of important areas of academic study including: anthropology, biology, chemistry, engineering, law, mathematics, multicultural studies, music, physics, psychology, women's studies and many other fields.
Provides primary-source documents from numerous US archives, libraries, and museums, including scanned maps, narratives, advertisements, political cartoons, photos, and other historical documents.
Offers access to a multidisciplinary library of over 136,000 high quality, unlimited user ebooks from over 450 publishers. Collections include both academic and recreational ebooks.
A collection of ebooks that spans all academic subject areas and grows at a rate of about 6,000 new titles per year.
Education Resource Information Center (ERIC) provides access to education literature and resources.
Explora provides access to lesson plans, students tools, curriculum standards, peer-reviewed articles, and links to sites valuable for teachers, as well as level-appropriate nonfiction books for students K-12.
A large digital library of academic journals, books, and primary sources covering more than 50 disciplines primarily in the Arts & Sciences, Life Sciences, and Business. Coverage begins at the first issue of the journal and extends up to a publication date usually set in the past three to five years.
A collection of popular full-text magazines, reference books, videos, and other sources covering multiple subject areas.
This collection provides popular adult and young adult fiction and non-fiction audiobooks and ebooks. Titles can be read through the OverDrive site, on the Libby app, or through the Kindle app. Users are welcome to submit suggestions for purchase.
The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) is considered the authority on the English language. Discover the meaning, pronunciation, and historical usage of over 600,000 words spanning over a thousand years of the English language.
Project Gutenberg is the first and largest single collection of free ebooks
Covering more than 160 subjects areas, this database includes scholarly journals, trade publications, magazines, books, newspapers, reports and videos.
Designed for middle and high school students and adults who have a basic foundation in English grammar and reading but need adapted reading material for a variety of subjects. It offers resources to help build background knowledge, conduct research and improve study skills.
Multi-volume reference works published by Salem Press designed with a broad range of users in mind. Spiva Library's collection includes, Magill's Literary Annual, Critical Survey of Graphic Novels, Critical Survey of Long Fiction, Magill's Medical Guide, Milestone Documents of History and more.
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CHARACTERISTICS |
SCHOLARLY/PEER REVIEWED JOURNALS |
GENERAL MAGAZINES |
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How to tell the difference between these two types of periodicals: |
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Content |
Reports on original research; in-depth analysis of topics; statistical information; academic level book reviews; refereed or peer-reviewed |
Current events and news; hot topics; brief, factual information; interviews |
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Length |
Longer articles providing in-depth analysis of topics |
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Authorship |
Author usually an expert or specialist in the field; name and credentials always provided - researchers, academics, professors, scholars |
Author usually a staff writer or a journalist; name and credentials often not provided |
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Language |
Academic level writing & vocabulary; specialized language of the discipline; can be highly technical |
Non-technical vocabulary; often simple language |
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Format/Structure |
Articles usually more structured; may include these sections: abstract, literature review, methodology, results, conclusion, bibliography |
Articles do not necessarily follow a specific format or structure |
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Editors |
Editors/reviewers are experts in the same field as author(s); many participate in peer-review process prior to publication; rigorous publication standards; articles checked for content, format and style |
Editors not academic experts in subject field of article; article topics often assigned or contracted; articles usually only edited for style and format |
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Publishers |
Professional organizations; Universities, research institutes and scholarly presses |
Commercial/trade publishers; corporate ownership |
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Special Features |
Illustrations that support the text, such as tables of statistics, graphs, maps, or photographs |
Illustrations with glossy or color photographs, usually for advertising purposes |
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Credits |
A bibliography (works cited) and/or footnotes are always provided to document research thoroughly |
A bibliography (works cited) is usually not provided; names of reports or references may be mentioned in the text; sources, when used, are rarely cited in full |
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Many databases contain reviews from magazines, newspapers, and journals. Before you start searching, it is helpful to know the year the film was released and the complete name of the film. After entering the name of the film (in quotations) in the search box, look for a limit to document type "Review" in the database advanced search pages. You can usually limit by date range too, if you want to see reviews published near the time of the film's release. If the review document type limiter is not available, add the term "review" to your keyword search. |
If you need an article to which Spiva Library does not have full-text access, we can request a copy from another library using a service called InterLibrary Loan.
This service is available to all MSSU students, faculty, alumni, staff and community card holders.
*a nominal service fee may
apply in some cases*
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