Library: Scholarly vs. Popular Periodicals: Finding Scholarly Articles

EBSCO Discovery Search Tutorial

Video Credit: EBSCO Tutorials, April 2, 2025.

Key Terms (Glossaries)

Glossary of research terms
Welcome to the Research Mindedness Virtual Learning Resource. It has been funded by the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE), to help students and practitioners of social care and social work make greater and more effective use of research in their studies and in practice.
Research Glossary
The research glossary defines terms used in conducting social science and policy research, for example those describing methods, measurements, statistical procedures, and other aspects of research

Finding Scholarly Articles

The Libraries have access to both scholarly and popular resources. Review Databases A-Z to individually search specialized databases or use the large search box (the Discovery search) on the libraries homepage for search main holdings. Here's a small sampling of our scholarly and popular holdings.

Scholarly Databases

Popular Databases (Periodicals and Magazines)

Scholarly and Popular

If you need a resource the Libraries' doesn't have, please fill out an Inter-Library Loan form. If you need more assistance finding resources, please contact the librarians at refdesk@mc3.edu.

Guides

Avoiding Plagiarism
Academic honesty is critical to your success as a student here at Montgomery County Community College, as well as in your academic and professional careers beyond Montco.
Citation Guide
Whenever you borrow information, you need to give credit where credit is due by writing a citation for that source of information. This guide was designed to assist you in doing just that!
Disinformation in the News: Determining Truth from Fiction
Learn more about fake news and how to find credible information.
Evaluating Websites
Unsure if a website's information is credible? Use this Evaluating Websites guide to find out more.

Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary Sources

What the difference between a primary, secondary, and tertiary source?

Primary sources are created as close to the original event or phenomenon as it is possible to be. For example, a photograph or video of an event is a primary source. More examples: Data from an experiment is a primary source, letters, journals, articles, speeches, video recordings, works of art, and books.
Secondary sources are one step removed from that. Secondary sources are based on or about the primary sources. For example, articles and books in which authors interpret data from another research team's experiment or archival footage of an event are usually considered secondary sources. More examples: Books written about an original event, artwork, or literary resources, biographies, essays, literacy criticisms, and commentaries.
Tertiary sources are one further step removed from that. Tertiary sources summarize or synthesize the research in secondary sources. For example, almanacs, fact books, textbooks, bibliographies, dictionaries, indexes, textbooks, and reference books are tertiary sources (Text in this section is from Suny Empire College's guide: Research Skills Tutorial).

Why is this important?

For your research assignments, you are asked to find primary, secondary, and tertiary sources. You'll need to be able to recognize the difference between all three. Remember primary sources are about the event. Secondary sources analyze the event and interpret another author's work. Tertiary sources summarize events from other authors after the event has occurred.