A periodical index is a helpful tool used to find published articles on your subject of interest. It will tell you in which periodical and in which issue an article appears. Since no one has the time to look at and sort through all the thousands of articles that are published in magazines, academic journals and newspapers, indexes are very useful. This guide provides an introduction to choosing a periodical index, and lists general and multi-purpose periodical and newspaper indexes. Periodical indexes come in either print or electronic format, sometimes both.
General indexes cover many subjects or disciplines in popular periodicals.
Multi-purpose indexes cover broad areas in both academic and popular periodicals. Specialized indexes cover a well-defined subject area in academic periodicals. Electronic indexes may provide the full-text of articles, and an increasing number are available remotely. Choose a general periodical index such as Newspaper Abstracts or Periodical Abstracts to find citations to news, or general interest articles in newspapers and magazines such as the New York Times and Newsweek . Choose a multi-purpose index such as Humanities Index, General Science Index, Social Science Index , or Periodical Abstracts for citations to general interest popular and academic articles across disciplines in broad areas of knowledge.