What is a Scholarly Article?
Both scholarly and peer-reviewed articles are written by experts in academic or professional fields. Scholarly articles are published in journals for specific academic disciplines. Many scholarly journals are also peer-reviewed.
Peer-reviewed articles are submitted to reviewers who are experts in the field. Because the reviewers specialize in the same scholarly area as the author, they are considered the author’s peers (hence “peer review”).
Both scholarly and peer-reviewed articles are excellent places to find what has been studied or researched on a topic, as well as find references to additional relevant sources of information.
Finding Full Text
Many databases on the library's website include the full text of articles. Click on the PDF or HTML icon to download the article.
If full text is not available, click the Find It or 360 Link icons to see if there is access from another source.
Look for 
displayed for each item in the library's databases. In Google Scholar, look for Find Full Text @ Oberlin. Access via publisher websites is generally limited to subscribers.
Full text is not always accessible for immediate download. The 360 Link may lead to an intermediary page offering access through Interlibrary loan. If you have trouble, consult the library staff.
Interlibrary Loan
Can't find what you need at Oberlin? For books, try OhioLINK. For books not available through OhioLINK and for other types of materials, use Interlibrary Loan (ILL).
ILL lets you borrow materials from non-OhioLINK libraries, including print books, scanned journal articles, musical scores, videos, theses/dissertations, and more.
Databases
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Urban Studies Abstracts This link opens in a new window
Indexes publications covering key areas of relevance to urban studies, including city and regional planning, urban affairs, community development, urban history, architecture, and more. Dates of coverage: 1973-present
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Social Sciences Citation Index (via Web of Science) This link opens in a new window
In the Web of Science Core Collection search function, limit your search to Editions > Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI). Indexing and abstracts of millions of peer-reviewed articles in social science disciplines. Also includes book chapters, conference papers and other formats. Cited and citing reference searching.
As of Fall 2025, you will be redirected to the Web of Science Core Collections search. To search in the Social Sciences Citation Index, select Editions > Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI)--1965-present.
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Annual Reviews This link opens in a new windowCritically reviews the most significant research literature in over 40 focused disciplines within the fields of biomedical, life, physical, and social sciences. These reviews both summarize recent scholarly advances and prompt new research activity. Excellent database of in-depth, secondary sources.
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SocINDEX with Full Text This link opens in a new windowProvides full text of some journal articles, and indexing and abstracts for journals, books and conference papers. Covers all sub-fields of sociology, including criminology, gender, marriage & family studies, social work, social psychology, addictions, violence, and more. Covers scholarly publications in sociology, social work, and related fields. Contains 2.3 million articles and other materials (64% in full text) with deep coverage from 1960 and some back to 1882.
Summon
Search approximately 300 million books, scholarly articles, newspaper articles, data, digital audio, digital video, digital images, government documents and more. It draws from the library catalog (OBIS), many of the full text and article indexing databases, as well as digital repositories from colleges, universities, research centers, and other open-access archives on the web.