First-Year Student Guide

You can find articles on your topic by using keywords or phases that cover what you are searching for in databases. If only a few sources pop up look at the words and phrases used under the subject headings of the articles. This will help you narrow your search language by letting you know the "authority language/terms" scholars used to describe their work. 

An article is peer reviewed if experts or scholars on the same field as the author have evaluated the material prior to it's publication. The peer review process usually follows these steps:

1. The author writes an article and submits it to a journal.
2. The editor of the journal sends a copy to peers (experts in the field) for review.
3.  The peer reviewers check the article for accuracy and assess the validity of the research methodology and procedures.
4. The article is accepted and published, then usually listed in databases for other researchers to find and read, informing their writing. 

In 2 Minutes: What are Library Databases and Why Use Them?

This 2 minute video introduces you to databases, and why they are more reliable sources of information than Google.

Below is a list of commonly accessed databases to get your research started.

You can see a complete list of our databases by clicking the Databases A - Z link.