Periodical Databases

Periodicals may be newspapers, magazines, or journals.  These are called periodicals because they are issued on a regular or "periodic" basis.

Periodical database include either: citations, abstracts or the full-text of the articles from the periodicals. 

Citation  Although the database doesn't contain the article itself, the citation will provide the information that you need to find the article.  The article itself may not be available in your local library but your library could get the article for you via InterLibrary Loan.

Abstract  The database may include an abstract or summary of the article. The article itself may not be available in your local library but your library could get the article for you via InterLibrary Loan.

Full text  The database includes the complete text of the article, either as HTML (words, sometimes images) or PDF (scanned image of the article to include the text and all images).

If you didn't use a periodical database, you probably would have to look through each issue of each periodical for articles on your topic. Imagine the amount of time that would take!

The periodical databases also include articles from periodicals that the El Centro College Library may not have print copies of... thus giving you access to thousands of articles!

The periodical databases may cover a variety of topics OR focus on a particular topic.