Summer Bridge: Articles

History Databases

Literary Criticism Databases

Peer-reviewed articles (also know as refereed) go through a process where they are analyzed by experts in a field before publication.

Articles can be scholarly (written and published for an academic audience), yet not go through the peer-review process.

Step 1:  Check the peer review status of the JOURNAL.

• Search for your title in Ulrichsweb,a database of information about journals and magazines.

• When you find your journal, look for a "referee shirt" symbol.  The symbol will appear next to any journal title that is peer reviewed and/or refereed (interchangeable terms).

Step 2:  If the JOURNAL is peer reviewed, then assess the ARTICLE.

• Is it a full research article?  Then you can be confident that your article is peer reviewed.
• If your article is a short news brief, an editorial, a letter to the editor, or a re-print of a conference proceeding, it is generally not peer reviewed. 

1. When searching for articles, you can not enter your question or a phrase.  You must identify the key words in your question and enter them into the search box.



Example: The history of the Japanese American evacuation and internment during World War II
(the key words are in bold)

2. After identifying the keywords, you must combine them in the search box with the word and
   

   Example: Japanese American and internment
   

In most databases, if the full text of the article is not readily available, you will see a Check for Full Text button. 

Clicking on the button will do one of the following:

a) take you to the article - look for PDF full text,
b) take you to the catalog - click on the link next to Content Available
c) link you to Interlibrary Loan so you can request a copy of the article.