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Dance Research Guide (Worth, Mitchell, and Rogers)

This guide is designed to serve the research needs of all FLC Dance classes.

Periodicals

Periodicals

When doing research, it is useful to understand the different types of periodicals and the kind of information they contain.

Journals

  • Contain original research articles written by the scholars themselves.
  • Also contain news articles related to the field.
  • Are published by professional societies for those working in that discipline.
  • Are the most scholarly source available as most articles are reviewed by experts in the subject.
  • Aritcles are usually longer and contain citations.

Magazines

  • Shorter articles written for more general audience.
  • Typically written by journalists.

Newspapers

  • Newspaper articles contain the most current news about a topic.
  • Not usually scholarly or professional, but may be only source of information on newer topics.

Useful Databases

Finding Articles on Your Topic image of newspaper articles

Research on a subject is seldom complete without periodicals - journals, magazines, and newspapers.

For your research try using OneSearch or one of the databases listed below. When using OneSearch, click on the Source Types most useful to you for this assignment. Suggested source types are: academic journals, magazines, trade publications, books, and ebooks.                  

To access the databases from off campus, you will be prompted to enter your Folsom Lake College student ID and password.

What is a Research Database?

What is a library research database?

Library research databases contain information from published works.

  • Examples: Magazine, professional journal and newspaper articles, encyclopedias and reference books. 
  • There are different kinds of research databases. Some for specific topics, such as medicine or history, and others that cover a wide variety of topics. 

You can search for newspaper, magazine and journal articles, for example, in a research database. A database often contains full-text articles, which means you can can print, email or save entire articles. 

How is a library research database different from a website?

Library Research Databases... Websites...
• get their information from professionals or experts in the field.  • can be written by anyone regardless of expertise.
• contain published works where facts are checked.  • content is not necessarily checked by an expert.
• are easy to cite in a bibliography and most create the citation for you.  • often don’t always provide the information necessary to create a complete citation.
• can help you narrow your topic or suggest related subjects.  • often aren’t organized to support student research needs.
• are updated frequently and include the date of publication.  • may not indicate when the information was updated. 

*Adapted from the Hennepin County Library website.