Scholarly (peer-reviewed) resources undergo review by experts in a field of study, who determine that the articles are objective and credible before they are published. Examples of peer-reviewed resources include articles in scientific journals, encyclopedias, and textbooks
Non-scholarly resources are published without review by experts. Non-scholarly resources range from a variety of types, such as websites and magazines, to newspapers and books. If you plan to use non-scholarly materials, ask your instructor beforehand, and use the CRAAP Test.
The Discover GALILEO search will search hundreds of databases at once and return articles from scholarly journals, newspapers, trade magazines, popular magazines, eBooks, dissertations, conference proceedings, videos, and more. Searching here will give you a wide range of results, which can be helpful when you are starting your research.
As you refine your research topic, subject databases can become more useful, as you are limiting what you are searching to only publications in your field of research. See the recommended databases below.
MLA International Bibliography
The MLA International Bibliography offers a detailed bibliography of journal articles, books, and dissertations. Produced by the Modern Language Association (MLA), the electronic version of the bibliography dates back to the 1920s and contains over 1.8 million citations from more than 4,400 journals & series, and 1,000 book publishers. Subjects consist of literature, language and linguistics, folklore, literary theory & criticism, dramatic arts, as well as the historical aspects of printing and publishing. Listings on rhetoric and composition and the history, theory, and practice of teaching language and literature are also included. In addition to the bibliography, the database includes the MLA Directory of Periodicals; the association's proprietary thesaurus used to assign descriptors to each record in the bibliography; and a proprietary, searchable directory of noted authors' names, with links to brief descriptive notes.
Academic Search Complete
Academic Search Complete is a multi-disciplinary database, with more than 6,100 full-text periodicals, including more than 5,100 peer-reviewed journals. In addition to full text, this database offers indexing and abstracts for more than 10,100 journals and a total of 10,600 publications including monographs, reports, conference proceedings, etc. The database is updated daily and features PDF content going back as far as 1887, with the majority of full-text titles in native (searchable) PDF format. Searchable cited references are provided for nearly 1,000 journals.
JSTOR
An electronic archive of core scholarly journals in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences. The JSTOR database is unique because the complete archives of these core scholarly journals have been digitized, starting with the very first issues, many of which date from the 1800s
Research Library (Proquest)
Research Library provides one-stop access to a wide range of popular academic subjects and includes full-text access for thousands of titles, including scholarly journals, trade publications, magazines, and newspapers.
Fuente Académica (Spanish)
Fuente Académica is a rapidly growing collection of scholarly journals from Latin America, Portugal and Spain. All major subject areas are covered with particular emphasis on agriculture, biological sciences, economics, history, law, literature, philosophy, psychology, public administration, religion and sociology. Among the dozens of recent additions to this unique collection are: Anuario de Derecho Internacional, APORTES: Revista de Mexicana de Estudios Sobre la Cuenca del Pacífico, Boletín del CEMLA, Ciencia Veterinaria, Comunicación y Sociedad, Cuadernos de Literatura, Revista de Ciencias Sociales, Perspectivas en Política, Economía y Gestión, Problemas del Desarrollo: Revista Latinoamericana de Economía, Psykhe, Revista de Contabilidade e Financas, Revista Internacional de Seguridad Social, Revista Geologica de America Central, and Revista de la CEPAL. Continuously expanding archives include Boletín del CEMLA (1955 - present) and the complete backfile of Darwiniana, published since 1922. Fuente Académica is updated on a weekly basis and currently offers the full text for more than 450 publications from 18 countries.
Think of the best keywords to enter and be ready to change them as you pursue your topic. Try using a subject encyclopedia or dictionary for specialized terminology. Get ideas for new keywords by carefully examining the title, abstract and subject fields in your first results.
Try these search features:
Visit the Search Techniques LibGuide for more tips and tricks.
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