HIST133: History of Sexuality (Randall): Scholarly Articles

1. Is written by a scholar in the field;

2.Has been through a scholarly referee process to be evaluated by experts in the field;

3. Is aimed at a specialized audience and uses the jargon of the discipline;

4. Includes documentation in the form of notes, footnotes, and bibliography;

5.Is usually pretty long (a two-page article is not likely to be a scholarly one)

To find scholarly articles on your topic (secondary sources), try the following databases:

• First select a database from the list above

• Before you start your research, try focusing your topic by writing a one sentence research question. For example: 
  • How did the Victorian era affect gender roles in Britain?
• Identify the main ideas in your research question.
  • gender roles (or sex roles)
  • Britain (or England)
  • Victorian
• Use an asterisk to find variations of a word, for example sex* will retrieve sex, sexual, and sexuality 
• Use synonyms or related terms ("gender roles" or "sex roles")
• Use quotes around a phrase
• Then, enter your keywords in the database search boxes.  Separate synonyms/related terms with  the OR connector.  
   
• Limit your search to "Peer Reviewed (Scholarly) Journals" if this optiion 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).