How can you tell if you've found a scholarly article?
Some of our databases allow you to limit your results to Scholarly or Peer-Reviewed (possibly Refereed) articles. In some cases, this isn’t so clear. You can either check with your professor or a librarian, or you can search for the journal name in Ulrichsweb (under Articles & Databases, on the Library homepage).
Once you’ve found the name of the journal you’re looking for, look for a small referee’s shirt icon (
), to the left of the title. This indicates that there is scholarly (peer-reviewed, refereed…) value to the articles in this title.
Even though you might be tempted to Google articles for your projects, the better way to find quality research is through the Library's databases. The databases listed below are a great starting point for finding information about minorities in the United States.
Check out the tips to the left, for pointers on putting together an effective search.
If you're not sure where to begin, try browsing in a journal on your subject. Seeing what has been written on your topic can help focus your research. Once you've got a better idea of where you're going, go back to the databases and find more articles.
The following journal categories might be useful:
When reviewing articles and books, you might come across a citation for another article that you'd like to use.
To find out if the Library has the article, use the Journal Search tab on the Library homepage, and search for the journal name (not the name of the article).
This will tell you if we have the full-text of this article in another database OR in paper or microform (WPUNJ Print, WPUNJ Film, WPUNJ Fiche).
Check your citation to find out the year that the article was published and compare it to the available options.