Collins Memorial Library: SSI2-114: Humans, Nature, and the Environment (Prof. Woods): Scholarly Articles

Searching for Articles in Databases

Search these key databases to find scholarly, scientific articles. When posisble, use filters to limit to scholarly or peer-reviewed sources only.

ProQuest Central
Covering more than 160 subject areas, ProQuest Central is a large aggregated database of periodical content. It features a diversified mix of content including scholarly journals, trade publications, magazines, books, newspapers, reports and videos.
Academic Search Premier
A multidisciplinary database containing full text journal, magazine & newspaper articles, many from peer-reviewed titles. This scholarly collection covers information in nearly every area of academic study.
PubMed
Bibliographic database that contains references to journal articles in life sciences with a concentration on biomedicine. Records are indexed with NLM's Medical Subject Headings (MeSH). Coverage encompasses those areas of the life sciences, behavioral sciences, chemical sciences, and bioengineering needed by health professionals and others engaged in basic research and clinical care, public health, health policy development, or related educational activities.
PsycINFO
The American Psychological Association's (APA) resource for abstracts of scholarly journal articles, book chapters, books and dissertations is the largest resource devoted to peer-reviewed literature in behavioral science and mental health.
ERIC (Education Resource Information Center)
The Education Resource Information Center, provides access to education literature and resources.
Business Source Premier
Major source for business & finance research. Includes news, magazines, and scholarly articles as well as country, company, and industry profiles.
Agricola
Contains bibliographic records from the U.S. National Agricultural Library. Subjects include animal and veterinary sciences, entomology, plant sciences, forestry, aquaculture and fisheries, agricultural economics, food and human nutrition, agricultural engineering and technology, and earth and environmental sciences.
Biological Science Collection
Contains abstracts and citations from journals, as well as conference proceedings, technical reports, monographs and selected books and patents.

Finding Full Text of Articles

There are three methods for obtaining the actual articles you wish to read:

Method 1: In some databases, you will be able to link directly to the full-text article. Look around, as different databases have different interfaces. Look for a link or buttons that says "Check for Full Text" or Download PDF or similar. If given the choice between a PDF or HTML version of the article, always choose the PDF format. This will give you an exact image, including page numbers, of the article as it appears in the paper journal.

Method 2: If a direct link to full text is not available, then check Primo Search to see if the library subscribes to the journal. Search for the title of the journal that the article was published in.

You may find that there is online access available for this journal. Check the dates that are available...most of the time the link will say "Fulltext access available from 19xx." Check to see whether the article that you're looking for was published during the date range that is available. If so, then click the 'View fulltext' link and either browse through past issues, or look for a "search within this publication" link until you find the article that you need. You may find that Primo says the journal is available at Collins Memorial Library Print Journals, which means we have the journal physically in the library. If the article you are looking for is only available in print in the library rather than online, in which case you you will need to check either the current periodicals area on the first floor, or go downstairs to the basement to find the bound volumes of periodicals. If the periodical is available only in microform, you may submit a request for electronic delivery of the article via your ILLiad account.

Method 3: If your searching indicates that the article is not available in any format, then request the article through ILLiad, the interlibrary loan service. ( Most databases include links to ILLiad within each record.) It usually takes about a week or less to receive an electronic copy of the article.

And at any time if you have questions, send Eli an email!

Searching Google Scholar

Google Scholar can be a powerful search tool. See below for tips about using Google Scholar to do cited reference searching, or for searching Google Scholar from off-campus.

What is primary literature & how do I use it?

In the sciences, a primary source

is peer-reviewed;
is published in a scientific journal;
and contains first-hand reports of research presented by the person or team that did the research.

Primary scholarly references are the gold standard for your background research as a scientist. Secondary scholarly literature—review articles, books, encyclopedias, handbooks, etc.—are useful entry points, but shouldn't be used alone. Follow up on the citations you find in secondary sources to get to the primary scholarly references.

Scientific primary literature is peer reviewed, or refereed, before being published. This enhances the quality and validity of the work. In the peer-review process, 2-3 specialists in the field read and critically evaluate the work before it can be published. Peer review is a quality-control measure to ensure that the primary literature includes only high quality, valid scientific information. Primary authors may revise and resubmit articles to improve them. Secondary literature is less stringently reviewed.

To learn more about peer-review, check out this short video: "Peer Review in 5 Minutes".