Articles from scholarly journals, also called peer-reviewed, academic, refereed, or professional journals, are often required or strongly recommended by faculty at the university level for use in writing research papers and projects. This criteria is especially true for upper division courses and is essential in quality graduate work. These are some characteristics that distinguish scholarly journals from other periodicals:

There are two ways to use databases to locate articles in scholarly journals.

• Using a subject-specific subscription periodical database
• Limiting a search in a general subscription periodical database

Using a subject-specific periodical database

To find scholarly journal articles on a particular topic:

• consult an appropriate subject guide found under Research Guides. These guides are designed to point you to appropriate resources for your discipline or topic
• choose the most appropriate department on the library's Databases Listed by Subject page
• read the descriptions provided for each database to help decide which one will be best for your topic
• search the database using keywords that describe your topic
• combine your keywords using search connectors (and, or)

Limiting a search in a general periodical database

A general periodical database that includes full-text scholarly journal articles, can also be an appropriate tool to search.

However, a lot of the information in general databases is NOT scholarly. So you have to LIMIT your search to only scholarly materials.

To find scholarly articles in a general periodical database:

• when you've chosen the database, type the keywords that describe your topic in the search box
• make sure you connect those keywords with the correct search connectors
• STOP! Before you hit the search button, LIMIT your search to scholarly articles by selecting the appropriate option on the search screen. See below for an example from Ebsco's Academic Search Premier:

• Be sure to Limit your results to Scholarly (Peer Reviewed) Journals by checking the box.
• It is often helpful to also limit your search by checking the box next to Full Text, since the library will then have most of the articles you retrieve either
  • available with full-text from the database, or
  • available in print in the Periodicals Collection on the First Floor of the Blume Library. Bound and unbound periodicals (paper) are shelved in alphabetical order by periodical (source) title. Periodicals stored on microfilm or microfiche (as indicated in the online catalog) are kept in cabinets located in the center aisle on the first floor. These periodicals on microform are also arranged alphabetically by journal title within these cabinets. Recent issues of newspapers and the most recent issues of popular magazines are shelved in the Current Periodicals / Newspapers (Leisure Periodicals) section on the first floor.

  
  Other resources

For a description to help you determine what type of periodical you are using, or needing, additional sources of information include:

• Databases from which you retrieved the article often provide additional background about the publications they include, as well as a link to the publisher's web site, when available.
• Magazines for Libraries (Ref Z 6941 .K2) briefly describes more than 7,000 periodicals.
• Ulrich's Periodicals Directory (Ref Z 6941 .U56) provides information on over 156,000 periodicals published throughout the world. It is arranged under 869 subject headings.
• The Encyclopedia of Associations (Ref HS17 .G332) lists professional associations. Periodicals published by an association are listed with that group's description.

Please ask a Reference Librarian or call (210) 436-3508 if you need assistance.