Databases
To find scholarly articles on your topic, use the following databases:
- Historical Abstracts with Full Text This link opens in a new window
- Humanities Full Text (H.W. Wilson) This link opens in a new window
- Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson) This link opens in a new window
- JSTOR This link opens in a new window
- Worldwide Political Science Abstracts This link opens in a new window
What is a scholarly article?
Search Strategies
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First select a database from the list on the left
- Before you start your research, try focusing your topic by writing a one sentence research question. For example:
- What role did women play during the Cultural Revolution in China?
- Identify the main ideas in your research question.
- Cultural Revolution
- China
- Women (or gender)
- Use an asterisk to find variations of a word, for example Chin* will retrieve China and Chinese
- Use synonyms or related terms (women or gender)
- Use quotes around a phrase ("cultural revolution")
- Then, enter your keywords in the database search boxes. Separate synonyms/related terms with the OR connector.
For example:
- Limit your search to "Peer Reviewed (Scholarly) Journals" if this option is available.
Getting the full-text of database articles:
1. If the database you are using has the full-text article, just click on the link (pdf or htmil).
2. If the full-text is not available, click on Find It@SCU Libraries:
- Is the article available in another database (e.g., Wilson OmniFile, JSTOR)? If so, click on the link and follow the citation information (e.g., volume, issue, date of publication, etc.)
- Does the library have this journal in print? Go to the OSCAR record and request the issue you need from the ARS.
- If the library doesn't have access to the full-text of the article, you will be offered the option of ordering it through the interlibrary loan service (which is free).