ACC Library's periodical subscriptions:

The ACC Library subscribes to more than 300 popular and professional magazines, scholarly journals and newspapers, on many subjects: from Newsweek to Art News, Business Week, Journal of Forensic Sciences, Reading Teacher, Skiing, Cooking Light, Engineering News Record and Tai Chi magazine!

To see a list of the library's subscriptions, visit the Periodicals at ACC  link on the ACC Library Web page. For the latest subscriptions, check the card files on the Circulation Desk.

Periodicals cannot be borrowed by students. Use the photocopier in the Copy Room (10 cents a page).

The Library has access to thousands of additional periodicals through article databases. Ask a librarian if a certain journal is available full-text in an article database.

Article databases:                                                      On ACC Library Web page
Use article databases to locate articles by subject. ACC Library subscribes to dozens of online databases. They may offer citations, abstracts (article summaries) or, sometimes, the entire article full-text. You may print or e-mail full-text articles.

To reach the online databases: go to the ACC Library's Web page (http://library.sunyacc.edu), then Finding Articles > General Databases or Subject Databases.

- If searching these databases from home, follow the screen directions as prompted: enter your ACC student network account as your username, and your network password. (Follow screen directions to look up your network information if needed.)

General Databases:
These are grouped into "College Level Research" and "Other Databases." They include:
• Academic Search Premiere: Lists articles from over 8000 journals. About half are full-text.
• JSTOR: full-text, 117 scholarly journals covering the arts, sciences and social sciences, especially history.
• New York Times: Current and historical editions (back to 1851) are available full-text.
• WilsonSelectPlus: Completely full-text, more than one million articles since 1994 from 1400 journals.
• New York Newspapers: 10 major newspapers published in N.Y.S., full-text N.Y. Times, N.Y. Post, more.
• CQ Researcher and Opposing Viewpoints for research and articles on controversial topics.

Subject Databases:
These are grouped into "Humanities," "Sciences" and "Social Sciences." They include:
• Literature Resource Center: Literary criticism and biographies of authors throughout the world.
• Health Reference Center: Health-related articles, encyclopedia entries, brochures, more.
• Hoover's Online: Business database with stock prices and information on corporations.
• Business Source Premier: industry trends, articles from 8,800 periodicals; most full-text.
• ScienceDirect: Scientific/technical articles, 7 million full-text; 2000 journals: 60+ million abstracts.
• CINAHL: authoritative nursing research database.

See the General and Subject Databases pages for the full list of dozens of databases.

Types of periodicals: 

 What is the difference between articles in Newsweek and The Journal of Studies on Alcohol? Why use scholarly journals for your research papers? This chart helps you observe the differences.

Periodical type:	Scholarly journals	News magazines & newspapers	Popular magazines	Trade journals	Opinion Periodicals
Who is intended audience?	Scholars, researchers, professionals	General audience	General audience	Professionals or specialists; uses technical jargon	Educated general audience
Are sources cited?	Yes	Rarely	No	No	No
Who wrote the articles?	Scholars and researchers	Staff writers, freelance writers or scholars	Staff writers, freelance writers	Editorial staff, freelance writers	Editorial staff, freelance writers
Type of advertising:	None	Variety of products (clothes, cars, food, etc.)	Variety of products	Industry-specific products, usually	Variety of products
Level of analysis:	High	Medium; not scholarly	Low; superficial; can be sensational	Medium	Medium; opinions, commentary, etc.
Who is the publisher?	Professional organization	For-profit businesses	Businesses	Trade or professional association or businesses	Businesses, usually
Publishes original research?	Yes (primary information source)	Sometimes (usually secondary or tertiary source)	No (tertiary source)	Not usually (secondary or tertiary source)	No (Tertiary source)
Other traits:	Reports original research	Good introduction to a current topic or current events	Entertainment- oriented	Covers news & trends in a specific industry	Could be helpful in pro/con arguments
Examples:	Journal of Marriage and Family, Journal of Studies  on Alcohol.	Time, Newsweek, Maclean=s, U.S. News & World Report, New York Times	Glamour, People.	Beverage World, Progressive  Grocer, Modern Tire Dealer, American Libraries.	Nation, Commentary, Dissent, New Republic, National Review.

Scholarly journals may also be called peer reviewed or refereed journals. This indicates that a panel of experts reviewed the article manuscripts thoroughly before they were published. If other researchers based their work on faulty original research, bad research would spread quickly!

Some publications could fit in more than one category. For instance: Scientific American is a scholarly journal with scientific but readable articles. It has a suggested reading list, but does not actually cite its sources. When in doubt, ask your instructor if certain articles are suitable for your research paper.   

To cite articles: Visit or call ACC’s Center for Reading and Writing for personalized assistance in organizing and writing your paper and bibliography (CRW is located on the ground floor of Dearlove Hall; call 832-7603).

For more assistance, see the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (REFERENCE LB2369 .G53 2003) or Univ. of Albany Libraries style guides (http://library.albany.edu/reference/style.html). Print and electronic articles are cited differently.

Updated May, 2008/JM