Journals

What is a journal?

Similar to a magazine, but on topics that are usually more scholarly, a journal contains a collection of articles written by different authors. Unlike a book, the publication of a journal is on-going, with no finish date in sight. Journals can be available in an e-format or print or both.

  • Examples: Performance Research / Journal of Biochemistry / Victorian Studies

What's the difference between a magazine and a journal?

Magazine articles are usually written by journalists for a mass-market audience. Journal articles will have been written by researchers and will often have undergone a quality checking, peer-review process. 

What does peer review mean?

Peer review refers to a process that certain journals use to quality check articles before accepting them for publication. The article will have been read and commented on by a panel of experts, who will have inspected the research findings for accuracy and originality. If you are reading a peer-reviewed journal, you can be sure the information is “quality assured”.

How do I find journals?

  • Your lecturers will be able to recommend journals to you, and you will also see references to journals and journal articles in your reading lists.
  • You can come into the library and browse through a selection of print journals that the library subscribes to.
  • To browse through e-journals (which won’t be visible on the Library shelves!) you’ll need to use the Library search tools such as Library Search (Falmouth) or Library Search (Exeter).
  • Falmouth students can browse through a list of journals on their Library subject pages
  • Falmouth students can browse through a list of e-journals by subject
Remote video URL

How do I find a journal article?

 

  • If you know the title of the article, simply type in some keywords from it into Library Search [Falmouth] or Library Search [Exeter]
  • You might need to use the filters to narrow the results to journal articles

This video shows you how to use Library Search (Falmouth) to look for journal articles

Remote video URL