LibGuides: WGSS 224: Personal and Social Change: Quick Start

Finding Scholarly Articles

Academic Search Premier
Provides scholarly, magazine and newspaper articles from many academic disciplines. Click Scholarly (Peer-Reviewed) Journals to limit your search. If the full-text doesn't appear, click the 360 Link to Full Text button to see if OSU has full text.
Coverage Dates: 1975 - present

Use these databases to find articles. Please note: If the full-text of the article does not appear in the database, click the 360 Link to Full Text button to check for the full text. Request the article from InterLibrary Loan if full-text not available. (Free!)

Sociological Abstracts
Index to scholarly literature from Sociology and Women's Studies. Type transgender* to find the words transgender or transgendered. Search concepts separately, lesbian in one row, health in the next, etc. Click the 360 Link to Full Text button to see if OSU has the full text.
Coverage Dates: 1963 - present
JSTOR
An archival collection of journal articles covering the humanities, social sciences and sciences. Type engineer# to find the words engineer or engineering. Type "women in science" so the terms appear as a phrase. Use parenthesis to simultaneously search 2 different concepts: "women in science" AND (physics OR biophysics).
Coverage Dates: - Varies by Journal
Project Muse
Project MUSE is an interdisciplinary collection of full-text, high quality, peer reviewed journals. Type engineer* to find the words engineer or engineering. Type "women in physics" so the terms appear as a phrase. Use the limit to articles.
Coverage Dates: - Varies by journal
Women's Studies International
Indexes the core disciplines in Women’s Studies and the latest scholarship in feminist research. Type transgender* to find the words transgender or transgendered. Type "same-sex marriage" so the terms appear as a phrase. Click Scholarly (Peer-Reviewed) Journals to limit your search. If the full-text doesn't appear, click the 360 Link to Full Text button to see if OSU has the full text.
Coverage Dates: 1972 - present
Google Scholar
Uses the Google search engine to search for scholarly materials on all topics from around the world. Google Scholar searches a variety of academic publishers, professional societies, preprint repositories and universities. You'll have to verify if articles are scholarly and peer-reviewed. Some articles available in full-text through OSU's journal subscriptions.
Coverage Dates: coverage range - unknown
LGBT Life
Use this database to find abstracts and full text for hundreds of LGBT journals, magazines and regional newspapers including The Advocate, Gay Parent Magazine, Girlfriends, GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian & Gay Studies, James White Review, ISNA News, Ladder, Lesbian Tide, New York Blade, ONE, Tangents, and many more. You can also find many full-text books.

Identifying Scholarly Resources

Ways to identify scholarly articles:

Look for common characteristics of scholarly works, such as
- Easily identifiable author names and author affiliation
- An abstract, introduction, methodology, conclusions
- Citation of others' works
- A complete list of references
Determine if the article is written by a scholar in the subject area and written for other researchers (rather than the general public)
Review the journal's home page for a description of the types of articles accepted for publication and whether articles are "peer reviewed/refereed"

Use 1Search to Find Books & Journal Articles

Find books at OSU & elsewhere with OSU Libraries 1Search:

search for books and more located at Valley library and OSU's other libraries
determine if OSU subscribes to a journal in print or electronically
search libraries in Oregon, Washington and throughout the world
if OSU does not, request the item to be delivered to OSU in 3-5 business days from a regional library (may take longer if the library gets a copy from outside the region)

Questions about 1Search? Go here!

Writing & Citing Resources

OSU's Writing Center Make an appointment or review their online help.

Many sites can guide you in using MLA. Especially helpful is Purdue's OWL site.

Plagiarism? It's Your Call: Can you cite correctly? Take the quiz and find out!
Original from Western Michigan University's SearchPath tutorial, this version from Lesley U.

Check out these suggestions for determining if your journal article or book is scholarly.

Not all but many journal articles have a similar structure. Understanding this structure may facilitate your understanding, interpretation and analysis of the author(s)' writing. This web site details a common structure that authors use:
http://unilearning.uow.edu.au/reading/1d.html.