LibGuides: WGS3080: Human Trafficking: Finding Articles

Using Databases to Find Research Articles

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!

Scholarly v. Popular

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

Women's and Gender Studies Databases

Search All isn't always the best place to go when doing research. In fact, some our our databases actually offer more control over you searching!

The following databases are good starting points for your Women's & Gender Studies research. 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.

If you topic touches on another subject, such as education, health, or gender studies, be sure to look in those databases as well (see below).

America: History and Life This link opens in a new window Bibliographic database contains over 450,000 citations and abstracts for journal and magazine articles, book and media reviews, and dissertations covering the world's scholarly literature about the United States and Canada from prehistory to the present. Includes material from over 1,820 journals and magazines written in over 40 languages, although the majority of items were published in English. Most of the items in the database were issued after 1954. Many records contain links to full-text articles in other Library databases. [1954 - present]
Congressional Quarterly Library (CQ Researcher and CQ Magazine) This link opens in a new window Two publications providing detailed coverage of Congress and legislative issues. The CQ Magazine offers timely coverage of the status of bills, votes and amendments, floor and committee activity, and backroom maneuvering. The CQ Researcher focuses on in-depth analysis about current and controversial issues; each edition concentrates on a single theme.
Credo Reference's Academic Core This link opens in a new window The Credo Reference database is a portal to over 1,300 full-text reference titles from over 120 major publishers. Easy to search and browse, the Credo platform provides access to text, images, maps, statistics, and graphic concept maps to illustrate connections among and between topics. The titles, which range across subjects in art, biography, business, geography, history language, law, literature, medicine, music, philosophy, psychology, religion, science, the social sciences, and technology, are fully integrated through the Credo search platform, and the Credo database also provides numerous points for accessing other Cheng Library resources. Credo is a most useful starting point for general research on almost any topic.
ERIC (via EBSCOhost) This link opens in a new window The ERIC database, sponsored by the Institute of Education Sciences of the U.S. Department of Education, provides access to more than 1.3 million bibliographic records of journal articles and other education-related materials. Included in the database are citation records, abstracts, and (where available) full-text links for journal articles, books, research syntheses, conference papers, technical reports, policy papers, and other education-related materials. [1966 - present]
GenderWatch This link opens in a new window GenderWatch is a full-text database useful for gender and women's studies, and gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) research. The database offers over 300 titles, with more than 250 in full-text, from an array of academic, radical, community and independent presses, with coverage back to 1970. Researchers and teachers may access more than 219,000 full articles on wide-ranging topics like sexuality, religion, societal roles, feminism, masculinity, eating disorders, healthcare, and the workplace. [1970 - Present]
ProQuest Dissertations and Theses This link opens in a new window This full-text database includes nearly 3 million dissertation and theses citations from around the world from 1861 to the present day together with over 1 million full-text dissertations that are available for download in PDF format. [1861 - Present]
ProQuest Social Science Database This link opens in a new window ProQuest Social Science Database, a subset of the ProQuest Central database, offers indexing and full text for hundreds of academic journals, providing extensive coverage across a wide range of social science disciplines including anthropology, criminology, economics, education, political science, psychology, social work, and sociology. Contains full-text content for over 1,200 titles.
PsycARTICLES This link opens in a new window PsycARTICLES offers complete access to the full text of more than 80 landmark journals in behavioral science and related fields ranging from education, to nursing, to business, to neuroscience. The database currently contains over 160,000 articles from many of the most important journals in psychology, including 34 journals published by the American Psychological Association. Most titles feature complete content from the current issue back to volume 1, issue 1, with complete coverage of all subject areas relevant to psychological science including basic/experimental psychology, clinical psychology, developmental psychology, education and school psychology, health psychology, industrial/organizational psychology, social psychology and social processes. Articles in PsycARTICLES are also accessible through links in the (larger) PsycINFO database. [1894 - present]
PsycINFO This link opens in a new window PsycINFO is the principal abstracting and indexing database covering peer-reviewed literature in the behavioral sciences and mental health. The database currently contains over 3.3 million records for articles from over 2,500 journals, books, and dissertations. Although the major focus of the database is psychology, it also includes information about the psychological aspects of related fields such as medicine, psychiatry, nursing, sociology, education, pharmacology, technology, linguistics, anthropology, business, law, and others. The records in PsycINFO are organized by a rigorous and detailed system of subject classification to support high-precision searching, and links to full-text content are provided where available. [1887 - present]
Scopus This link opens in a new window Scopus is a comprehensive database providing access to the research literature of the natural and physical sciences and the social sciences. The database currently provides over 50 million citation records and indexes over 20,000 peer-reviewed journals, over 390 trade publications, and over 370 book series. Also included are citations for over 5.5 million conference papers from proceedings and journals, over 25 million patent records from five patent offices, and articles in press from over 3,800 journals. [1823 - Present]
Sociological Abstracts This link opens in a new window Sociological Abstracts, which includes the companion file Social Services Abstracts, covers the international literature of sociology, social work, and related disciplines in the social and behavioral sciences. It provides abstracting and indexing of articles and book reviews drawn from thousands of serials publications, plus books, book chapters, dissertations, conference papers, and working papers. [ 1952 - Present ]
Women's Studies International This link opens in a new window This bibliographic database provides citations and abstracts for materials in all areas of women's studies. It includes more than 958,800 records and spans from 1972 to the present and indexes journals, newsletters, bulletins, books, book chapters, reports, theses, dissertations and grey literature.

Persistent Links

When searching in Library databases, the link that you see at the top of your browser (the URL) is usually session-based, meaning that it expires once you close your session.

These links cannot be shared and will not work if you try to use them later to go back to articles you've found.

Instead:

Use the Email link in the database to send a copy of the article to yourself. This will include a persistent link that won't expire.
Click on the article title in your results list and look for a persistent link (this will vary by database):
- EBSCO databases: Look for the Permalink option on the right side of the screen.
- ProQuest Databases: Click on Abstract/Details tab, and scroll down to the Document URL.

Keyword Handouts

Choosing the right keywords is an important step to successful research, and this handout is a way to identify possible terminology.

A term might work well in one database, but not at all in another. As you read, you'll likely find other terms to add to this list, or through tools like the Thesaurus or Subject Terms lists in specific databases.

This is a 'live' list and should continue to grow as you explore your topic. You might also keep separate lists for different questions you are asking.

Search Strategy Worksheet
This worksheet is just one way to find a set of useful keywords for your research. If you are having trouble identifying terms to use, feel free to contact me for help.