Periodicals are collections of articles that are published at regular intervals (daily, weekly, monthly, yearly). You are likely familiar with many periodicals already, such as newspapers and magazines, and hopefully also with scholarly journals.
Articles can be valuable source of information, not only do they present information in bite-size chunks, they actually save you time. Often if a scholar in religious studies has an idea for a book, they will first present the idea as an article. When the book finally comes out, you will be able to casually mention having read it when it was still a new idea.
There are three different types of periodicals:
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Scholarly Journals |
Contain articles that have original research or theories. They have in depth coverage of a narrow aspect of a topic. They have a greater degree of analysis than other periodicals and are more up to date than books and provide lists of sources to consult.. |
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Popular Journals (Magazines) |
Contain articles that present factual information and begin to analyze data but are not sources for theories. They are useful when you need fairly current information on an event and are best used as primary source material for current popular opinion and news coverage. |
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Newspapers |
Contain short articles that present extremely current information. Newspapers are very useful as primary source material. Keep in mind that stories reported as events come to light, many of which are later disproved or understood differently. |