LibGuides: PBHL2920: LGBTQ Health: Locating Articles

General Search Tips

Database Searching Tips

Select/switch to the advanced search option
Do a keyword search first to see what is available
Too many results? Add an additional term or two
Too few results? Think of synonyms for your term(s)
Many databases have a Thesaurus function
Refine or limit your search to scholarly/peer reviewed articles
All databases allow you to print or email your results
Use the reference list from an article to locate additional sources

Finding Articles on LGBT Topics

Finding good articles about LGBT topics can sometimes be difficult, because LGBT individuals and/or issues are discussed in many different contexts, subjects, and communities.

To locate articles using Library databases, you can click on the Databases tab from the Library homepage. With over 130 databases, some will be more appropriate to your searches than others. Depending on the focus of your research, you might also use the dropdown menu to select an subject like Public Health or Psychology to look at specific aspects of your topic. Most databases are accessible from off campus, allowing you to do research from home.

You will probably need to search more than one database to make sure you're finding as much information on your topic as possible.

Below are some of the databases you may find useful for researching LGBT issues:

General Knowledge Databases

These resources search across disciplines and may locate research on seemingly unrelated topics. A good place to begin your research!

Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window
An interdisciplinary, full-text database where you can find information on a variety of topics. Features content from academic journals, magazines, and books.
ProQuest Central This link opens in a new window
ProQuest Central is a large, multidisciplinary database covering more than 14,000 publications.
Credo Reference's Academic Core This link opens in a new window
The Credo Reference database is a portal to over 940 full-text reference titles from over 110 major publishers. A great starting point for new topics!
JSTOR Arts and Sciences Collections (I through IX, and XIV) This link opens in a new window
JSTOR is an archive of over 1,900 major journals in a number of disciplines, and is a good place to find historical research on a topic.

Health-Specific Databases

To focus on the health aspects of your population, you will want to explore these resources.

Salem Health (Full-Text Health Reference Titles) This link opens in a new window
Full-text access to the following reference titles published by Salem Press:
     Adolescent Health and Wellness
     Cancer
     Psychology and Behavioral Health
MEDLINE (via PubMed) This link opens in a new window
MEDLINE provides access to the research literature of medicine and the health sciences. Use this link to locate articles from the freely available PubMed (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/)
PsycINFO This link opens in a new window
PsycINFO covers peer-reviewed literature in the behavioral sciences and mental health.Although the major focus of the database is psychology, it also includes information about the psychological aspects of related fields.

Social Issue Databases

The following databases will help in identifying the role of society and culture in exploring LGBT issues.

America: History and Life This link opens in a new window
Database of 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.
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.
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.
Salem History (Decades in America, Great Lives, Milestone Documents) This link opens in a new window
The Salem History portal provides full-text access to several major series published by Salem Press, inclduing Decades in America (1920s-1990s), Great Lives from History, and Milestone Documents.
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 database provides citations and abstracts for materials in all areas of women's studies, and may be useful for finding information on sex and gender-related topics.

Creating Personal Folders in Databases

Many, if not all, of the library databases allow you to create accounts within the database to store your articles and searches for future reference.

When completing a search, you will often see options such as "Mark" or "Add to Folder" . If you decide to use this feature you will need to create an account in the database. The good news is that once you create an account in an EBSCO database such as PsycInfo, you can add items from any of their databases using the same username and password. The same holds true for the ProQuest databases.

Saving your citations/articles within the database also allows you to export them into RefWorks all at the same time.