Social Justice

Magazines, journals, and newspapers, are types of "periodicals" - as in, they are published periodically throughout the year. There are many different intended audiences.

• Magazines are generally intended for a broader, public audience. They often come out monthly.
  • Examples: Scientific American, Psychology Today, and Rolling Stone.
  • To search for articles within these journals, click on Advanced Search under the Search box. Then enter your search term.
• Journals are often intended for a scholarly audience (scholars, academics, researchers, etc.) Many articles in these journals go through a rigorous publishing process called peer-review: they are written by an academic, submitted to the journal, and then circulated to experts in the field for checking before being published. These also usually are issued monthly with some that are quarterly and others that are irregular.
  • Examples: Social Justice Research, Harvard BlackLetter Law Journal, Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved.
• Newspapers are usually written for a broader, public audience. They share current news and usually come out daily.
  • Examples: The New York Times, Washington Post.

The Merritt College Library provides free access to newspaper, magazine and journal article databases.  Use these databases for specialized and the most up-to-date information, especially academic (scholarly) sources that are not available for free on the Web. See the A-Z Databases page for a full list of databases available. Below is a list of databases that will be useful in a search for articles on social justice.

Need help with ideas for search terms? The Books tab in this guide lists some subject headings that might help you get started.