Online Databases
The following databases contain at least some peer-reviewed journal articles. To ensure that you find the scholarly articles look for limiter boxes labeled "peer-reviewed" or "scholarly" journals. This is a very short list of the many databases we subscribe to. If you do not find what you need here talk to a librarian about your research. There may be a database more appropriate to your topic.
- PsycINFO This link opens in a new windowAbstracts and references for articles from professional psychology journals.
- MEDLINE This link opens in a new windowThe premier database for articles from medical journals from around the world. This version also contains the full text for 80 biomedical journals.
- Criminal Justice Abstracts with Full Text [EBSCO] This link opens in a new windowComprehensive coverage of the major journals in criminology and related disciplines, extensive coverage of books, and unparalleled access to reports from government and nongovernmental agencies. For each document, an informative summary of the findings, methodology, and conclusions is provided. Topics include crime trends, prevention projects, corrections, juvenile delinquency, police, courts, offenders, victims, and sentencing." 4 simultaneous users maximum.
- Academic Search Complete [EBSCO] This link opens in a new windowMulti-disciplinary full-text database with more than 8,500 full-text periodicals, including more than 7,300 peer-reviewed journals. Indexes and abstracts more than 12,500 journals and a total of more than 13,200 publications including monographs, reports, and conference proceedings. Searchable cited references are provided for more than 1,400 journals.
- Education Research Complete This link opens in a new windowFull text for more than 1,300 education journals, 540 books, and 2,300 education-related conference papers. Indexing and abstracts for more than 2,400 journals. Covers the areas of curriculum instruction, administration, policy, funding, and related social issues. Subjects include all levels of education from early childhood to higher education and all educational specialties, such as multilingual education, health education, and testing.
- SocIndex with Full Text This link opens in a new windowA comprehensive sociology research database with more than 1,660,000 records. It contains full text for 344 "core" coverage journals dating back to 1895, and 129 "priority" coverage journals. This database also includes full text for more than 700 books and monographs, and full text for 6,800 conference papers.
- Social Work Abstracts This link opens in a new windowIncludes extensive coverage of more than 450 social work and human services journals. Produced by the National Association of Social Workers (NASW), the database provides citations and abstracts dealing with all aspects of the social work field. Four simultaneous users maximum.
- Academic OneFile This link opens in a new windowAcademic Onefile contains articles from 8,000 academic journals, the majority in full-text.
- ScienceDirect College Edition This link opens in a new windowProvides access to more than a quarter of the world's scientific and medical journal articles online. Topics include physical sciences and engineering, life sciences, health sciences, and social sciences and humanities. All articles are peer-reviewed.
Scholarly Sources
What is a Peer Reviewed Journal?
Scholarly, or peer-reviewed journals contain articles that are written for scholars by scholars. Articles are generally based on original research conducted by the authors, and go through the process of peer review - other scholars in the same field read and comment on the article and determine if it is worthy of publication. It is a lengthy process which can take up to several years. Some articles are never published. To identify a scholarly article in the Social Sciences look for these clues:
- Is there an abstract?
- Can you find an author affiliation?
- Does the body of the article have headings such as "Introduction", "Methods", "Results", "Discussion", and "Conclusions" ?
- Are there References at the end?
- Do you see charts, graphs, and tables, but few (if any) illustrations?
How Do I Find an Article when I have the Citation?
Enter the title of the article into the Google Scholar box to find out if Maxwell Library has the full text.
- Google Scholar This link opens in a new windowA freely accessible web search engine that indexes the full text or metadata of scholarly literature across an array of publishing formats and disciplines.