Let’s start with some basic terminology. So far in the Lab we have been dealing with books, or “monographs.” A book takes a considerable time to write, edit, and publish. And once it is published it is finished, and the contents remain static. If new information warrants an update, this would be published as a second or a revised edition.

Journals are part of a larger format of information referred to as periodicals. The three categories of periodicals we are concerned with for the Lab are journals, professional/trade publications, and magazines. They are called periodicals because they are published at regular intervals, or periods (unlike a book, which is published once – “mono”). The interval can be daily (a newspaper), weekly (a magazine such as Newsweek), monthly, (a magazine such as The Atlantic),  bimonthly (once every other month, such as the journal Psychological Bulletin), quarterly (once every three months, such as the journal Psychological Methods) or yearly (such as Annual Review of Psychology). Some periodicals come out “whenever” (such as an amateur newsletter). And again, unlike a book, there is no expected end to the publication.

Each issue is composed of many different article, all authored by different individuals. Keeping these different authors, different titles, and different publication dates straight can be confusing. We will address this later when we create a citation for an  article that you have found.

And of course, just to make life more confusing, periodicals are sometimes referred to as serials, that is, they come out in a series.