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HIST 3000: Introduction to Historical Studies | The Making of Modern America: Using the Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature

The Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature

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http://www.svcc.edu/departments/lrc/tour/

What Is the Reader's Guide?

The Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature is an index of articles published in popular magazines.

  • Goes back to 1900
  • Volumes are in order by date
  • Each volume is organized by topics
  • Look for a "See also" section at the end of a topic, for directions to other categories that might be useful

It can take a little time and thought to match your topic to the topics listed in the Reader's Guide, so be prepared to brainstorm alternative terms if your first search terms/keywords don't turn anything up.

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Interested in pre-1900 popular magazines?
Try these databases, available through the GSU Library:

What Am I Looking At?

Each article citation will follow this format:

Article title. Author [if given] il [if illustrated]. Abbreviated Magazine Title Volume Number: Page Numbers   Date

So if you are looking at this citation:

Newark factory fire. M. A. Hopkins. il. McClure. 36: 663-72. Ap. '11

you are looking at a citation for an article title "Newark factory fire," written by M.A. Hopkins, an illustrated article published in a magazine abbreviated as "McClure", in volume 36, on pages 663-672, in the April 1911 issue.

Abbreviated Magazine Titles

Important: The Reader's Guide abbreviates magazine titles in its citations.

You should always check the abbreviated title against the "List of Periodicals and Reports Indexed," found at the very beginning of the first volume for each year/time period. Look up the abbreviation given in the citation and match to the full title.

**Note that some years/time periods are broken into two volumes, like "A - K" and "L - Z." The List of Periodicals and Reports Indexed is always at the beginning of the first volume, before the A's!

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Why do I need to do this?

You need to know the full name of the magazine in order to look it up in GIL or GIL-Find, or to place an Interlibrary Loan request for an article.

Using GIL to Find Historical Periodicals

Once you have the magazine's full title, use the Journal tab on the GSU Library homepage to see if we have access to this journal.

Keep the "All Journals" button selected. This will tell you if we have the journal in paper or in microfilm (as well as if we have an electronic version).

If We Don't Have Access? Interlibrary Loan!

If we don't have access to that magazine, the citation from the Reader's Guide gives you all the information you need to place an Interlibrary Loan (ILL) request for that article.

You can start an ILL request by clicking here and entering your Library ID in the box next to "Logon."

After you've signed in with your Library ID, click on "Journal Article" request and fill in all of the boxes marked with red asterisks. In the box for "Where did you find this item cited?" type in "Reader's Guide."

History Librarian