Moffett Library currently subscribes to various periodical formats for the benefit and enjoyment of MSU Texas students, faculty, and staff. To offer suggestions for new periodicals, please complete the Moffett Library Peridocial Request Form here.
Moffett Library offers its patrons a variety of periodicals to choose from. If you need assistance in differentiating between the various types, please see the chart below to help choose which type of periodical is most beneficial to your needs.
| Scholarly& Research Journals | Professional, Trade & Industry Journals | Journals of Commentary & Opinion | Newspapers | Popular Magazines | |
| Examples |
American Historical Review Bioscience New England Journal of Medicine Social Psychology Quarterly |
RN Library Journal Science Teacher Restaurants and Institutions |
Mother Jones National Review Atlantic New Republic |
New York Times Washington Post Christian Science Monitor Wall Street Journal |
Time Newsweek Sports Illustrated Reader's Digest
|
| Values & Uses |
Reports of original research; In depth analysis of issues related to the discipline; Lengthy articles. Academic level book reviews; Refereed or peer-reviewed |
Current trends, news & products in a field; Company, organization, & biographical information; Statistics, forecasts; Employment & career information; Book and product reviews | Commentaries on social & political issues; Some in-depth analysis; Political viewpoints, liberal, conservative & other; Sometimes acts as voice of activist organization; Speeches & interviews; Book reviews | Current information; News stories; Local and regional focus; Classified ads; Editorials; Speeches; some book reviews; Primary source for information on events | Current events; Hot topics;Primary source for analysis of popular culture; Short articles; Generally not much depth; Interviews; some book reviews |
| Language | Academic; Can be very technical; Uses the language of the discipline | Written for practitioners; Can use jargon extensively | Written for a general educated audience | Written for a general educated audience | Non-technical, often simple language |
| Authors | Researchers, academics, |
Practitioners in the field or journalists with subject expertise |
Extremely variable; Can be academics, journalists, representatives of various “groups” | Journalists | Generally, journalists and freelance writers |
| Sources | Footnotes and bibliographies, Often very extensive documentation | Occasional brief bibliographies; Sources sometimes cited in text | Occasionally cite sources in text orprovide short bibliographies | Rarely cite any sources in full | Rarely cite any sources |
| Publishers | Universities, scholarly presses or academic and research or professional organizations | Commercial publishers or professional and trade associations | Commercial publishers or non-profit organizations | Commercial publishers | Commercial publishers |
| Graphics | Graphs, charts, formulas, depending on the discipline; Do not contain glossy ads | Photographs, charts, tables, illustrations of all sorts;ads related to the profession | Varies a lot; Some very plain, some have graphics, colors and ads | Pictures, charts, ads of all sorts | Glitzy, many graphics and pictures; full of color ads |
Gradowski, Gail, Loanne Snavely, and Paula Dempsey. Designs for Active Learning: A Sourcebook of Classroom
Strategies for Information Education. Chicago (Ill.): Association of College & Research Libraries, 1998. Print.