Where Sea & Air meet - Organisms in the Pelagic Zone

When you come across a cryptic reference, it helps to look for clues as to whether it is to a Book or other stand-alone publication OR  if it is to a periodical or serial publication. 

Once you know which category it is most likely to fall into : Book or Periodical - then you can use the option from the menu on the left to look at the right tools

Some Clues: 

Books or Stand-alone Publications - Included here are reports, pamphlets, manuscripts - the distinction is that there is just one title.  A book can have multiple volumes - but it is a complete set, not a continuing publication.   

Example:  Linneaus 1758 = the book Systema Naturae - and specifically the 10th edition published in 1758

• An author and a year - - These are most likely stand alone publications, and probably classic well known works - or at least well known in the century of the source. 
• An Author, Title and Year - Also probably a book, but either slightly less well known or the author had multiple significant Books -
• A City is included in the citation - this almost always indicates a stand alone publication rather than a serial. Earlier publications were identified by the city of publication and not always the publisher
• A Publisher is included in the citation - Publishers are not normally included in Periodical citations. 

Periodicals or Serial Publications -

Note on the word Journal: Most of the time in the Sciences, the term "Journal" refers to a scientific publication with articles that comes out regularly.  When this appears in a periodical title or title abbreviation - it will always have a Volume or Issue number.

However, in the context of early natural history sometimes it refers to the Journals of explorers - meaning their diaries - their record of what they found.  These are published as books, but the word Journal often appears in the title.  When this is the case, there will not be a volume / issue number.

These are Journals, or serial reports that came out regularly in an ongoing fashion for a period of time.  Citations are almost always to an article in a Periodical, Journal or other series - but often the Author and title are not given - just the periodical title, abbreviated, the year, volume #, Issue # and Page #s 

Example: Zool. Journ. No. XIX London (1832) p. 346 - This refers to the periodical The Zoological Journal, published in London, and the references is to an article in issue number 19, year 1832 on page 346. 

• Citations that contain a No. followed by a number - These are almost always periodicals
• Citations that contain Vol followed by a number  - These are usually periodicals, but can be multi volume works - see the section below on Vol#s  -Books vs Periodicals
• Citations that have an abbreviated title that contains the abbreviation for common periodical types. See the Periodical tools for a more complete list. 
  • Ann.  - Annals
  • Arch. - Archiv (German) = Archives
  • Bull. - Bulletin
  • Jahrb. - Jahrbuch (German) = Yearbook
  • Journ. - Journal
  • Proc. - Proceedings
  • Trans. - Transactions
  • Z. or Zeit. - Zeitschrift (German) = Magazine   

Vol#s  -Books vs Periodicals - Both Books and Periodicals can have volume #s, but there are usually some clues to help you tell the difference.   

First - Look at the title or abbreviation for the title. 

• Periodicals often have words like journal, bulletin, Transactions etc. - so does it have an abbreviation of a word like that? - Then start with Periodical tools. 
• In your judgement - does it look more like a book or a journal title?  Second - how high is the number?  Books are likely to have lower numbers - Periodicals higher numbers.  Numbers over 30 - are most likely periodicals, so start there.  Is it followed by a Part # - Pt. ?  If so, then it is probably a book.  Multi volume books often have Parts, but Journals do not usually.  

Don't spend a lot of time here - this is just to get you started in the most likely place.  If you can't tell - just pick one and start there.