FINDING ARTICLES IN PERIODICALS

Finding Newspaper Articles

The best sources for newspaper articles in the Hartfield Library are NewsBank Online, Reference Service Plus, CD NewsBank NewsFile, ProQuest Newspapers and the New York Times on microfilm and via ProQuest online.  (For an explanation on these databases and instructions for their use, refer to "Using Electronic Databases.")  Reference Service Plus provides newspaper information via microfiche from regional and national titles with much of the data coming from regional titles.  CD NewsBank NewsFile provides full-text data that may be printed off at the workstation at no cost to you; however, the newspaper titles involved are generally national and international, not regional.

Other information you should know about newspapers is that they are a good source for the following kinds of information:

- current events
                        - recent developments
                        - trends of present or past opinion
                        - contemporary accounts of a modern period
                        - first-hand reports for events which happened in the past

Material published in newspapers can be found by using newspaper indexes.  Although not all newspapers have indexes, once you have found the date that a news story appeared in one paper, you can use that date to find reports in other newspapers.  Examples of newspaper indexes are The New York Times Index and The Wall Street Journal Index.  In addition to the NewsBank databases, select newspaper articles are indexed in InfoTrac’s Expanded Academic ASAP (1980-current) and Ebsco's Newspaper Source (citations and full text.)  Be sure to select the EBSCOhost Web link when using this latter database.

The Hartfield Library holds the New York Times and the New York Times Index on microfilm.  It also has access to full-text the New York Times online via ProQuest.  The following section explains how to use the hardcopy index.  You will learn about the library's subscription to the newspaper on microfilm later in this workbook.

EXAMPLE OF A CITATION IN THE INDEX

TELEVISION and MARKETING
John J O’Connor article on clever marketing of “live” TV programs; illus (M), Ja 3, II, 1:2

EXPLANATION OF THE CITATION
Subject Heading:                    TELEVISION and MARKETING
Description of article:              John J O’Connor article on clever marketing of “live” TV programs
Denotes that the article is illustrated:                                 illus
Article is of medium length (up to two columns):               (M)
The date is January 3rd                                                    Ja 3
Section II of newspaper:                                                  II
Page 1; Column 2:                                                           1:2

Note: The citations under a subject heading appear in chronological order (Ja 1 before F 14, etc.).  The year of publication is the same as the year on the spine of the volume.  In addition to the subject headings, another helpful tool in the New York Times Index is the “See also” cross-reference.  A 1992 NYTI example of this tool is as follows:

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (EPA)
See also
Acid Rain, Ja 9, Jl 23, N 23
Air Pollution, Ja 14, F 14,18, Ap 15,20, My 5,8,18, 15, 29,Jl 21, Ag 2,21, 30, 31, S 27, O 20, 31, N 1,13, D 18, 21, 22
Airports, Jl 3
Asbestos, Ja 6, Mr 1, O 20
Atomic Weapons, D 22
Automobiles, My 18, S 25, O 28
Bees, Ja 26
Biology and Biochemistry, My 11, 15

Here, the "See also" reference guides you to other subject headings related to the EPA.  A citation to an article on the EPA and Asbestos would be available on January 6, 1992, March 1, 1992, and October 20, 1992.

With the newspaper citation information, you can retrieve the correct role of microfilm and find the article via the microfilm reader.