A focused way to find scholarly, peer-reviewed articles about topics in your area of interest, is to search the databases for that subject. We own lots of things online, but for the things we do not own online, make sure to place a request for that item through Resource Sharing (ILL).
See the boxes below and the "Research by Discipline" tab for database suggestions or go to our full database list.
INDEXED DATABASES
If you want to find articles on a particular topic or by a particular author, you should use an indexed database. An index is a collection of article citations organized by subject matter. Indexes are compiled by human indexers, who actually read or review each article and then select the subjects covered by the article from a list of established subject descriptors. That is, they use a “controlled vocabulary” such as the Library Search uses the Library of Congress subject headings or descriptors for indexing the subjects of articles.
Examples of indexed databases include: Academic Search Premier (or any EBSCO database), Web of Science, and ABI/Inform (or any ProQuest database).
FULL-TEXT DATABASES
Kind-of like searching Google, full-text databases can be tricky to search and you can end up with thousands of results, many of which aren't relevant to your topic. Since they may not be indexed (like the Indexed Databases above), they don't have a common language. This means you need to think about synonyms for your search terms. For example, if you are searching for "Children," and not finding relevant information, try related terms such as "juvenile," "adolescent," etc...
Examples of full-text databases include: JSTOR, and Nexis Uni
EXAMPLES OF INDEXED DATABASES TO SEARCH FOR SCHOLARLY ARTICLES
Often, you may want to find research articles that use a specific methodology, like literature reviews, systematic reviews, or empirical methods.
Using ADVANCED SEARCH in the database PsycINFO allows you to search by methodology.
Under the search boxes, scroll down until you see a limiting box for METHODOLOGY
Video for Finding Empirical Articles: https://youtu.be/wPqcPsOoEek
(https://youtu.be/wPqcPsOoEek)
For this assignment you will need to find an article that reviews empirical literature or an empirical article.
What is an empirical article?
An empirical article reports on research conducted by the authors. The research can be based on observations or experiments.
What types of research make an article empirical?
An empirical article may report a study that used quantitative research methods, which generate numerical data and seek to establish causal relationships between two or more variables. They may also report on a study that uses qualitative research methods, which objectively and critically analyze behaviors, beliefs, feelings, or values with few or no numerical data available for analysis
How can I tell if an article is empirical?
• Check the publication in which the article appears. Is it scholarly? Most empirical articles will be in scholarly journals.
• Read the article's abstract. Does it include details of a study, observation, or analysis of a number of participants or subjects?
• Look at the article itself. Is it more than three pages long? Most empirical articles will be fairly lengthy.
• Look at the article itself. If it contains a subsection marked "Methodology" and another called "Results," it is probably empirical.
How can I search these articles?
There is no quick way to limit your searches only to articles that review empirical studies (or to empirical studies themselves). You will have to do keyword searches, then review article abstracts in order to determine the nature of each. To run keyword searches, use the databases listed on the "Finding Empirical Articles" tab.
Use the Library Search on the Library's Homepage to find books.
Finding Papers: use
SSRN (Social Science Research Network)
SSRN is a searchable online library that enables authors to post their papers and abstracts easily and free of charge. The vast majority of papers can be downloaded free of charge as well. The only exceptions are papers whose copyright is held by third parties that request a download fee. SSRN provides a space for a variety of content types to be accessed beyond the traditional research article, including gray literature, book reviews, multimedia files, and datasets.
ICPSR (Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research) ICPSR maintains and provides access to a vast archive of social science data for research and instruction (over 14,000 discrete studies/surveys with more than 65,000 datasets). Since 1963, ICPSR has offered training in quantitative methods to facilitate effective data use.
