What is a scholarly journal?
Where do I look to find scholarly journal articles?
Finding full-text articles
Top 5 Tips for Searching a Database
Demonstration Videos on searching databases
What is a Scholarly Journal?
When Should I Use Scholarly Journals?
- when doing scholarly research
- to find out what has been studied on your topic
- to find bibliographies that point to other relevant research
Examples of Journals
- Journal of Communication
- The Historian
- Journal of the American Medical Association
- Lancet
A scholarly journal (sometimes called a peer-reviewed journal) is a collection of articles usually written by scholars in an academic or professional field. An editorial board reviews articles to decide whether they should be accepted. Articles in journals can cover very specific topics or narrow fields of research. Since journals are published on a regular or periodic basis they are grouped in the category called "periodicals." Electronic journals, called e-journals, are published on the Web by some scholarly organizations and are made available to you from your library.
Print the Checklist
for determining whether an article is scholarly (also called empirical or peer-reviewed).
- How Do I Start?
To find journal articles start with a DATABASE.
- What is a Database?
DATABASES are collections of articles from many different journals. There are two kinds of databases: General and Subject Specific.
Click here to see a list of PSU Library's online databases
- Can I Get Access to Databases From Home?
Yes! For more information go to:
http://www.lib.pdx.edu/services/distance/proxyserver.html
GENERAL DATABASES
General databases are interdisciplinary and will work for finding just a few articles on a topic or beginning research on a more in-depth project.
Academic Search Premier is the general database at PSU Library. Academic Search Premier provides access to over 1500 journals full-text - so you can grab that article from home!
SUBJECT DATABASES
Subject Specific Databases are better for finding articles from journals in a specific discipline.
You will turn to these when you have exhausted your findings in Academic Search Premier, or when you're doing an in-depth project in a specific discipline. Use the pull-down menu at the top of the databases page to select a subject.
- Some databases provide full-text articles, while others provide only the citation for an article.
- If an article is not full-text, you will need to check the Vikat Library Catalog to see if we subscribe to the journal. (See the demo below on how to do this search).
- You should also check the list of Online Journals, as they are not all listed in the catalog.
- Articles can usually be e-mailed, printed or saved to a disk.
"SHOW ME"
click on a demonstration video to learn more...Show me how to do a Subject Specific Database search
- Break your topic down into keywords
"I want to know how oil leaks from dams on the Columbia River have affected fish populations"
Keywords for searching: oil and Columbia River and fish
Combine different concepts with AND: oil and fish and Columbia River
Combine similar concepts with OR: oil or pollution or leaks
AND, OR, and NOT are called "Boolean Operators" and are useful for widening and narrowing searches.
- Put phrases into quotes
"Mississippi River Delta"
"chicken-fried steak"
"war on terrorism"
- Use the HELP menu.
Every databases has extensive online help screens--look for a "help" button in the upper navigation bar of the database.
- Evaluate your results
It's tempting to grab the first three full-text articles that come up in a search, but be careful. You want to choose articles that are high-quality and substantial enough for your paper or project. To see more about how to evaluate journal articles, go to Evaluating Sources
