When conducting academic research, you should try to find as much information about previous research on your topic, as possible.
One of the best places to look for articles is on the Library’s Databases tab. Databases range from general to subject-specific, can be used from off campus, and many offer full-text access to articles.
If your topic covers more than one subject (Social Sciences and Education, etc.) you'll want to search more than one database to get the full picture.
Visit our main Databases page, for a full list of resources available to you!
The following databases are good starting points for research in language dialects, variations, and usage, along with social aspects of these. The contents of each are different (with some overlap) so it's always a good idea to check in multiple databases to ensure that you find all relevant information.
The Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts database contains citations to a substantial amount of published research on language dialects, variations, and usage. For a focus on the English language, you should include "English language" as a search term, and if you wish to focus on stigmatized Englishes in the United States, you should also use the Location limiter option.
The MLA International Bibliography database contains citations to a substantial amount of published research on English language dialects, variations, and usage. For a focus on the English language, you should include "English language" as a search term.
The Sociological Abstracts database includes citations to published research on the social aspects of language and language usage, including stigmatization.
When conducting research, you will usually be asked to find Scholarly Articles, or artices from a Scholarly Journal, rather than popular sources (like magazines and newspapers).
Not sure what the difference is between scholarly and popular? Check out this short tutorial: Scholarly v. Popular
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 (from on campus).