URPL Librarian
Search for Articles in These Databases
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JSTOR (including ARTSTOR) This link opens in a new windowCore database to find scholarly journals across disciplines.
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Natural Science Collection This link opens in a new windowProvides access to scholarly and learned publications in agriculture, aquatic science, atmospheric science, biology, earth science, environmental science, and many other related subject areas.
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Academic Search Ultimate This link opens in a new windowAcademic Search Ultimate offers access to an unprecedented collection of peer-reviewed journals, magazines, reports, books, and videos.
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GreenFILE This link opens in a new windowThis comprehensive resource draws on the connections between the environment and a variety of disciplines such as agriculture, education, law, health and technology.
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ScienceDirect This link opens in a new windowExtensive full-text journal coverage of the physical sciences, biological sciences, social sciences, and humanities.
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Web of Science This link opens in a new windowEnables users to search current multidisciplinary information from thousands of the most prestigious, high impact research journals in the world. Also provides cited reference searching where users can navigate forward, backward, and through the literature that's relevant to their research.
Types of Sources
Case Study: In the social and life sciences, a case study is a research method involving an up-close, in-depth, and detailed examination of a subject of study, as well as its related contextual conditions. Case studies can be produced by following a formal research method.
Academic Research Paper: In academic publishing, a research paper is an academic work that is usually published in an academic journal. These papers undergo a process of peer review by one or more referees (who are academics/experts in the same field) who check that the content of the paper is suitable for publication in the journal. Other limiters that also convey this idea: Peer Reviewed, Academic Journal, or Scholarly Journal.
Academic research papers can be primary or secondary sources. In the sciences and social sciences, primary sources refer to articles that conduct new research or seek to add new information. They might analyze data, conduct an experiment or observation, or describe a case study. They generally contain charts, graphs, or other forms of data.
Look for articles that contain the following sections:
- Abstract
- Introduction
- Materials, Methods, or Methodology
- Discussion and/or Conclusion
Secondary sources, also called review articles, summarize the known findings on an existing topic. This topic is usually broader than individual primary articles. Many, but not all, review articles contain one of these terms in their title or abstract:
- Review
- Systematic review
- Literature review
- Meta Analysis
- You may also see sentences like "Previous studies found..." or "The authors reviewed the literature"
Search Tips
Booleans: AND, OR, NOT
- AND combines search words together. Both words must appear, narrowing your results.
- OR allows you to search for synonyms or like terms. Only one of the terms need appear, broadening your results.
- NOT removes a specific term.
Quotation marks
- Phrases stick together as one keyphrase. "climate change"; "blue whale"; "Cretaceous period"
Asterisks
- Add to the end of a word to find words stemming from that root. volcan* - volcanology, volcano, volcanic, volcanism
Limiters
- Usually found on the left
- Narrow by subject, date, geography, language, or peer-reviewed
- Play around with different combinations of limiters, keywords, and search strategies!