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TALON MODULE 6: Finding Periodical Articles
Abbreviations and Explanations

Periodical citations seem fairly straightforward, but you should remember that many indexes and reference works often abbreviate periodical titles, as well as explanatory terms and other words. In many instances you won't see articles neatly identified by quotation marks or periodical titles set off in italics. Therefore, you might come across the article by John Trowbridge appearing this way in an index:

The Field of Gettysburg. John T. Trowbridge. il Atlantic v16 p616-24 N 1865.

Just remember that the introduction of an index or reference book always explains how the work is arranged and lists any abbreviations used. "Atlantic" is the abbreviation for Atlantic Monthly, "il" signifies that the article is illustrated, and "N" stands for November.) Many titles are not as easy to decipher as Atlantic, so it's always a good idea to check the list of abbreviations.

One important abbreviation you will often see in journal citations is bibl or bib, which indicates that the article includes a bibliography. A bibliography is a list of the books, articles, and other materials that the author used while researching the article. You can use the references in a bibliography to locate additional information on your topic.

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