What is a scholarly article?
Quick Links
- Library Home Page This link opens in a new window
- OSCAR - SCU Library Catalog This link opens in a new window
- Find Journals & Magazines This link opens in a new windowFind out if the library has specific journals, magazines, or newspapers, either electronically or in print.
- Citation GuidesHow to cite your sources via MLA, APA, and more
Scholarly Articles
To find scholarly articles on your topic (secondary sources), use the following databases:
(if you are using a database other than "America: History and Life," remember that you are writing a historical analysis of your topic (not a sociological or psychological analysis), so choose your sources accordingly.
To get a list of all the databases available at SCU, go to the library home page and click on the DATABASES tab.
- America: History and Life with Full Text This link opens in a new windowThis database covers the history and culture of the United States and Canada from prehistory to the present. With selective indexing for 1,700 journals from 1964 to the present, this database also provides full-text coverage of more than 196 journals and more than 92 books.
- LGBTQ+ Source This link opens in a new windowContains all of the content available in LGBT Life as well as full text for more than 140 of the most important and historically significant LGBTQ+ journals, magazines and regional newspapers, plus full text for 150 monographs/books. The database includes comprehensive indexing and abstract coverage as well as a specialized LGBTQ+ Thesaurus containing over 10,000 terms.
- Women's Studies International This link opens in a new windowThe ultimate women's studies resource! Includes over 540,000 records drawn from a variety of essential women's studies databases. 1972-present.
- JSTOR This link opens in a new windowProvides image and full-text online access to back issues of selected scholarly journals in history, economics, political science, demography, mathematics, biology, and other fields of the humanities, social sciences, and life sciences. Consult the online tables of contents for holdings, as coverage varies for each title. Updated monthly.
How to Search the Databases
How to Search the Databases:
Just enter keywords describing your topic. Use the connector AND between your keywords or enter keywords in different search boxes. For example if you are interested in the history of discrimination towards gays and lesbians in the workplace, you could do a search like this:
You can use synonyms or related terms to describe your topics. For example, gay* or lesbian* or homosexual* in the search above.
You can also use an asterisk at the end of a word to retrieve various endings. For example, homosexual* would retrieve homosexual, homosexuals, as well as homosexuality.
When you look at your list of results in the database, If the full-text of an article is not readily available , click on the FIND IT AT SCU icon to see if it's available in another database or in print in the library. If it's not you will have the option of using the Interlibrary Loan Service. It's free and very fast!