Why use articles?
Why use articles for research?
- For very recent, current information
- Cover very specific subjects
- Popular topics
- Alternative viewpoints
- Reports on scholarly research
Article Databases: By Subject and A-Z List
Evaluating Sources
It's one thing to be able to find sources for a paper, but it's another to be able to evaluate those sources and use them appropriately to support your research. For college-level research, you'll want to consider using only the highest-quality information sources that you can find. Review the guide for Critically Evaluating Sources to understand methods of evaluation.
Popular Magazines vs. Scholarly Journals
Trying to find an article from a list of citations?
As you review bibliographies, reference lists, etc., you will discover additional sources to possibly use.
Find them using the CitationLinker.
Database searching
Now is the time to be more specific with your searching. Articles tend to cover very specific or niche topics, and are also published more quickly than books, meaning the information is typically more current than the general information you can gather from books.
- Art and Architecture Complete This link opens in a new windowProvides full-text access to 380 periodicals, 220+ books, and indexing/abstracts for 780+ journals and 230+ books. It also includes selective coverage for 70 publications and an image collection of 63,000+ images from Picture Desk and others.
- JSTOR (including ARTSTOR) This link opens in a new windowProvides full-text access to a broad range of resources about the humanities, sciences, and social sciences, including primary sources, images, articles, and books. Does not contain the most recent journal articles.
- Academic Search Ultimate This link opens in a new windowOffers access to an unprecedented collection of resources including journals, magazines, reports, books, and videos. Many are peer-reviewed and full-text. Subjects range from astronomy to zoology.
- Humanities International Complete This link opens in a new windowProvides full text of hundreds of journals, books & other published sources from around the world. This database includes data from American Humanities Index & Humanities International Index.
Developing search strategies
When you create keywords, you should also begin piecing together those keywords to create "search strings," or search strategies that can be used within the databases. By using boolean operators, nested searches and truncation, you can elevate and expand your searching in library resources.
- Boolean Searching: Basic & Advanced Searching with BooleanFrom the University of South Carolina- Upstate. Explores boolean searching and advanced search techniques.
Google Scholar
Google Scholar is a great resource for articles. It searches across many disciplines and sources. Link your Google Scholar to your library account to get access to articles that might be behind a paywall. Here's how:
- Click on the three bars in the top left corner to access your Google Scholar menu.
- Click on "Settings."
- Navigate to "Library links" in your list of settings.
- Type in Salisbury University and check the boxes that come up.
- Click save. Your Google Scholar is now linked to Salisbury University's library resources.