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Warren ENG 111 (Hamilton): Finding Articles

Types of Articles

scholarly article, sometimes also called a peer-reviewed, refereed or academic article, is written by an expert and contains in-depth research. Many articles with this designation have gone through the peer review process, meaning they have been evaluated by other experts in the field for accuracy before publication. Source materials are cited, and charts, graphs, and statistics are often included to share data from the research. The article is generally quite long and includes technical language or jargon from the field of study.  

Popular articles are written by journalists and meant to be read by the general public. These articles are brief, and easy to read. These articles are edited and fact checked, but not reviewed by experts in the field the way scholarly articles are. There are usually no sources cited, and any images included are typically glossy photos rather than data based. 

Newspaper articles are geared toward very current events. These articles will give local perspectives on an issue and document what was happening at the time events were unfolding (ex: issues of the New York Times from the days immediately following 9/11).

See this video for a brief overview on what makes a scholarly periodical different from a popular periodical: Scholarly versus Popular Periodicals

Finding Scholarly Articles

After logging in to any of the resources below, you can use the "Choose Databases" option at the top of the screen to cross-search as many databases as you want. For a full list of our databases, see the "Databases A-Z" page on the library website. Contact a librarian if you aren't sure which database to use.

  • Academic Search Complete is your best starting point for scholarly articles in many disciplines. This database also includes many popular articles. You can use the left column menu to specify which type you want to see in the results.    
  • SocINDEX with Full Text - Academic journals in sociology and related fields.
  • Communication and Mass Media Complete - Access to over 850 journals in mass media, communication.
  • PsycINFO - The core research tool for the behavioral sciences. Can also be useful for topics in education.
  • Environment Complete - Covers topics in environmental aspects of many disciplines from agriculture to engineering .

 

Finding Newspaper Articles

Newspaper Source - Provides cover-to-cover full text for 25 national and international newspapers, selected articles from over 260 regional U.S. papers, and some television and radio news transcripts

New York Times - Please see instructions for creating a free account.

Wall Street Journal - Coverage for the last 4 years.