FSW 201 (Hamilton): Finding Articles
Important Note
Please be sure to review the information on the Before You Search! tab on the left menu before you begin searching in the tools listed on this tab. The Before You Search! tab explains what a "peer reviewed" article is and how to tell when you have found one. It also gives tips for building more effective searches. There are brief videos and tutorials that explain how to choose the best keywords, refine your searches, and evaluate the information you find.
Background Information
Before you begin searching for scholarly journal articles on your topic, you should look at some background information to see what some general arguments or concerns exist about it. The database links below are for resources that make that type of information easy to find.
Academic Search Complete
Search for your topic using the tips on the "Before You Search" tab and from the in-class demo. Check the box next to "Magazines" under the "Material Types" limit option. Remember to also adjust the publication date so that you are getting recent information about your topic. The magazine articles you find will likely discuss multiple viewpoints on your topic which you can then research in more depth using the scholarly journal tools in the box below.
CQ Researcher
CQ Researcher is a single publication that is produced weekly. The entire issue each week is devoted to a single topic. The pro to this resource is that if your topic is covered in an issue, you'll have in-depth info about it. The con is that only 52 topics are covered per year, so the odds that your topic has been addressed recently are reduced.
Start by searching for your topic in the search bar at the top right of the screen. Use of your keywords in the text of the issue appears in bold beneath the title of the issue in the results list to give you an idea whether or not the article is relevant. Within an issue, you can get a PDF version, get a citation in various formats, and print, save, or email the issue to yourself. Using the left column menu, you can navigate to individual sections of the issue by clicking on their headers.
Opposing Viewpoints
Search for your topic in the search bar at the top left of the screen. When the results appear, go to the slightly grey bar across the top of the results and click the link to "Viewpoints." These articles generally come in pairs that argue two sides of a controversial topic such as, "Does gun control lower the amount of violent crime?"
Search Tip: Use the Find It! Button
Most databases do not have the actual journal articles housed on them, some databases, like Academic Search Complete will have some of them. Instead, they usually just contain information about the article. Some databases will allow you to search full-text only, but beware that you are not searching all the articles that we subscribe to.
If you don't find an item as full-text in the database you're searching, use the "Find It" button to cross-search other databses for that same item. You may discover that we have electronic access to that material after all.