Finding Scholarly Articles
Your papers for this class requires you to use and cite scholarly, peer-reviewed articles. Here are some tips and tricks for finding scholarly articles for your papers and projects.
You can use either the library catalog (QuickSearch) or the library databases (subscription-based services like EBSCO or Proquest) to find articles.
Check out the Search Tricks page on this guide for tools on how to craft the best literature searches.
Database Links
- All Public Policy, Planning, and Public Administration DatabasesThis list contains all available public policy and administration databases. Use the "Best Bets" section to find the most widely-used databases for the field.
- All Social Work DatabasesThis list contains all available Social Work databases. Use the "Best Bets" section at the top to find the most widely-used databases for the field.
- All Women's and Gender Studies DatabasesThis list contains all available Women's and Gender Studies databases. Use the "Best Bets" section at the top to find the most widely-used databases for the field.
- All Public Health DatabasesThis list contains all available Public Health databases. Use the "Best Bets" section at the top to find the most widely-used databases for the field.
- All Library DatabasesUse the subject dropdown to find databases for the subject area of your research.
A Few Suggested Subject-Specific Databases
- Business Source PremierCovers both popular press and scholarly journals in the business field.
- EconLitEconLit is a subject specific database that covers economics scholarship
- Family and Society Studies WorldwideInternational database drawing from multidisciplinary social science literature including social work, policy, economics, family studies, psychology, sociology, and more.
- PAIS IndexPAIS Index provides coverage of public affairs, public and social policies. It is also included in the multidisciplinary database Social Sciences Premium Collection.
- Policy File IndexPolicy File Index is a collection of public policy research reports from over 350 think tanks, nongovernmental organizations, research institutes, university centers, and advocacy groups.
- Social Sciences Premium Collection (ProQuest)Multidisciplinary database that covers sociology, political science, public policy journals among other areas.
- Women's Studies InternationalAn index of feminist research and scholarship in women’s studies and is relevant to many disciplines.
- Worldwide Political Science AbstractsSubject specific political science database. It is also included in the multidisciplinary database, Social Sciences Premium Collection.
Multidisciplinary Databases
Rather than a specific disciplinary focus, these databases cover a wide scope of literature from all fields.
- Academic Search PremierA multi-disciplinary database that covers many social sciences areas, medicine, health, education, etc.
- Google ScholarSearches peer-reviewed papers, dissertations, books, preprints, reports from academic publishers, professional societies, universities and other scholarly organizations. It is highly recommended that you use more that *just* google scholar when searching the academic literature.
- ScopusA citation and abstract database of peer-reviewed literature in the areas of science, technology, medicine, social sciences, arts, and humanities.
- Web of ScienceIndexes major journals in the sciences, social sciences and humanities. Can also be used to find who has cited a particular author and to track trends in the literature.
- JSTORFull text back runs of more than 2,000 scholarly journals in all disciplines, including history, sociology, philosophy, political science, economics, and more.
Search the Library Catalog
Finding Specific Articles or Journals in QuickSearch
To find a specific journal go the Advanced Search in Quicksearch and:
- Select Title from the first pulldown menu on the left
- Type the journal name next and select Journals from the Resource Type menu on the right
- Select the Search link
When searching for one-word journal titles (Life, Science, Nature, etc.), you may have better results using the Basic Search
To find a specific article ("known" citation) either:
- Use the Basic Search and enter the article title in quotes (")
or
- Use Citation Lookup-for best results, enter the title and any unique identifier such as an ISSN, DOI, or PMID.