Finding Articles
Databases are the first place to look for articles. Databases usually have information about an article (such as the title, author, name of the journal or magazine in which the article appeared) and they may also contain a summary (abstract) of the article.
Some databases have a complete copy of the articles (called full text). In this case there is a link to an HTML or PDF document.
For more information on finding articles, check out this page:
Google Scholar
Databases
Begin your search in these recommended databases:
- Academic Search UltimateContent include academic journals, magazines, periodicals, reports, books and videos which meets the needs of scholars in virtually every discipline ranging from astronomy, anthropology, biomedicine, engineering, health, law and literacy to mathematics, pharmacology, women’s studies, zoology and more. Full text is provided for over 10,000 peer-reviewed journals.
- JSTORJSTOR offers high-quality, interdisciplinary content , including over eight hundred leading academic journals across the humanities, social sciences, and sciences. We now offer 6 archival collections, along with current subscriptions to individual titles accessed through the JSTOR Scholarship Program’s platform for seamless access to the full run of the title.
- SocINDEX with Full TextSocINDEX with Full Text offers comprehensive coverage of sociology, encompassing all sub-disciplines and closely related areas of study. Content includes nearly 900 full-text journals and magazines, more than 850 full-text books and monographs, dozens of working papers, dissertations and conference proceedings. Subjects include Criminology, Criminal Justice, Demography, Ethnic and Racial Studies, Gender Studies, Marriage and Family, Religion, Sociology and Social Development, Substance Abuse as well as many others.
- Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson)Social Sciences Full Text provides sources covering a wide array of subjects, including addiction studies, ethics, public welfare, urban studies and more.
- PsycARTICLESFull-text, peer-reviewed scholarly and scientific articles in psychology. The database contains more than 100,000 articles from 59 journals - 48 published by the APA and 11 from allied organizations. Coverage spans 1894 to present.
- DOAJ - Directory of Open-Access JournalsFree, full text, quality controlled scientific and scholarly journals, covering a variety of subjects and languages.
Search Tips
Use these search strategies to help you find useful information quickly and effectively:
Quotation Marks for Phrase Searching
Let one good book or article lead you to others. Scholarly publications almost always have bibliographies or lists of works cited. Check these out! If the original source is useful to you, works used by the author may be valuable, too.
You can also see how a particular book or article is categorized and look for other works in that category.
Check out these searching tutorials for more information:
Religious Study Journals
Interlibrary Loan
Find a journal we don't have at Mercyhurst? You can request articles and other materials through our Interlibrary Loan service provided by the Mercyhurst Libraries.
Interlibrary Loan
Our ILL service allows you to request articles, books, chapters from books, and conference proceedings to request from libraries all over the country. Choose the material you'd like to request, log in using your Name and Mercyhurst ID Number, then fill out the form as completly as possible and click 'Submit This Request'.
*Please check the library holdings before requesting materials through this service!
