Using Indexes

How to Use Print and Online Indexes

Print Indexes

Librarians use the term "periodical" to include all magazines and journals.
Our current print indexes are located on first floor to the left as you enter from the Loan Desk area; the shelves on the north wall and the shelves facing north.  Current print indexes are interfiled with the older indexes.

Here you will find the currentBiography Index, Book Review Digest, Business Periodicals Index, Education Index, Humanities Index, Readers Guide to Periodical Literature, Social Science Index, and General Science Index, Religion Index One, Religion index Two, and Restoration Serials Index.  They are shelved in order by their call numbers.

One question we are frequently asked is "How do I know which magazines and journals Levitt Library has?" Open the front of the index to where you will find the list of periodicals and their abbreviations that are covered in that particular index. Look for the checkmark beside some of the titles. The titles with a checkmark by them are the ones Levitt Library subscribes to.

At the end of the year (which will vary on the various indexes) Levitt Library will receive a bound volume containing all of the information found in the current index of a certain title. When using one of these, one can find all of the articles that were written in the periodicals the index covers on a specific subject for the whole year. These indexes are found on shelves clear to the North wall of the first floor of Levitt Library.

These should also have a list of periodicals in the front with checkmarks by the titles Levitt Library subscribed to that particular year.

Readers Guide to Periodical Literature is a general index that covers a broad area of subjects. The subject and author entries are alphabetized. At the end of the book, you will find a list of book review citations.

Biography Index indexes biographical material from periodicals. It contains the index information for biographies, autobiographies, "interviews, obituaries, collections of letters, diaries, memoirs, juvenile literature, book reviews, and bibliographies."Biography Index.New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, 58(2).

Book Review Digest "provides citations to and excerpts of reviews of current juvenile and adult fiction and nonfiction in the English Language." It does not index technical books, textbooks or government publications.Book Review Digest.New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, 100(7).

Business Periodicals Index contains entries alphabetized by subject, company, or personal name in English. The end of the book contains citations of book reviews

Education Index indexes information from books, magazines and journals that are educational publications in English.

Humanities Index alphabetizes indexed articles by author and subject. The "subject fields indexed include archaeology and classical studies, area studies, folklore, history, language and literature, performing arts, philosophy, religion and theology, and related subjects."Humanities Index. New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, 31(4).

Social Sciences Index "consists of author and subject entries to periodicals in the fields of anthropology, area studies, community health and medical care, criminal justice and criminology, economics, family studies, geography, gerontology, international relations, law, minority studies, planning and public administration, policy sciences, political science, psychiatry, psychology, social work and public welfare, sociology, urban studies, women's studies, and related subjects."The end of the book also contains a list of book review citations.Social Sciences Index. New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, 29(4).

General Science Index contains subject entries from English periodicals in "astronomy, atmospheric science, biology, botany, chemistry, earth science, environment and conservation, food and nutrition, genetics, mathematics, medicine and health, microbiology, oceanography, physics, physiology and zoology."General Science Index.New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, 26(10).

Religion Index One: Periodicals is "a subject index to periodical literature including an author/editor index and a Scripture index. "Religion Index One: Periodicals. Chicago: American Theological Library Association, 2003. Religion Index Two indexes works with multiple authors.

Restoration Serials Index indexes periodicals and lectureships published by the Church of Christ by subject and author.

Online Indexes

Levitt Library has two Online indexes. They are CQ Researcher Index and Guide to Social Science and Religion in Periodical Literature .

Guide to Social Science and Religion in Periodical Literature

In the Guide to Social Science and Religion in Periodical Literature You can browse titles of individual articles by clicking on any range of volumes and years, or you can go to "Click here to search all volumes by subject or keyword". When you click on the latter, you go to Power Search, where you can enter keywords and combinations of keywords, or Subject Search, where you can choose a subject using a drop dwn box. Click on the following link to check it out. Guide to Social Science and Religion in Periodical Literature

CQ Researcher Index

CQ Researcher reports on important social issues. One whole issue will cover a specific topic. This is a good place to go to try to make a decision on the topic for a paper as well as to find information for your papers.

This online index is a simple listing of articles grouped by general topics. The title of each article is followed by the date, as well as the page number, of the print copy of CQ Researcher. The most recent copies of CQ Researcher are found on the Current Periodicals shelves, and past years' issues are found on the top shelf in the Jovenile books section on the east wall of the main floor. Bound copies of CQ Researcher are found upstairs in the stacks, under the call number QUARTO PER D 414 .E3 . To check out the index click on the following link CQ Researcher Index Online.