Sample Segment: Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature
Using the Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature, you can look things up by author or by
subject. This is helpful, especially if you don't know a lot about your subject. The Reader's
Guide goes back to 1900, and covers about 160 magazines on a twice-monthly basis.
A typical segment of the Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature will look like this:
- Heme
- Long-range electron transfer in heme proteins. S.L. Mayo and others. bibl f il
- Science
- 233:948-52 Ag 29 '86
- Hemingson, Peter
- The composter's Cusinart. il Mother Earth News 101:52-3 S/O '86
While all of this information may look confusing at first, it really isn't so bad. All abreviations are
listed in the front of the Reader's Guide books. Here's a translation of the two entries listed
above:
Entry A is listed by subject. The article is about heme proteins, and it appeared in the journal
Science, volume 233, August 29, 1986, on pages 948-952, and it contained a bibliography (bibl),
footnotes (f), and illustrations (il).
Entry B is listed by author. This article is titled "The Composter's Cuisinart," and it appeared in
the journal Mother Earth News, volume 101, pages 52-53, the September/October issue, 1986.
This article contained illustrations (il).
If you are still confused about an entry, don't hesitate to ask a reference librarian help you to
decipher it.