Peer reviewed journal articles
Peer-review is a publication process where research articles written by experts in academic or professional fields are submitted to reviewers who are also experts in the field.
Summon and most library databases provide a peer-review limiter that limits results to journals that publish research articles with a peer-review process. You many need to combine the peer review limiter with a document type limiter of "journal article" or "article." Letters, commentaries, news reports, obituaries, and book reviews published in scholarly journals are generally not peer-reviewed, even if the journal uses a peer-review process for research articles.
Finding Scholarly Articles
-
Gender Studies Database This link opens in a new window
Covers the full spectrum of sexual diversity issues and gender-engaged scholarship inside and outside academia. Source documents include professional journals, conference papers, books, book chapters, government reports, discussion and working papers, theses and dissertations, and more. Dates of Coverage: 1972 to date
-
Historical Abstracts This link opens in a new window
Index to thousands of academic journals covering world history (excluding the US and Canada) from 1450 to present, in over 40 languages, with full-text available. Dates of Coverage: 1955 to date
-
National Social Sciences Database This link opens in a new window
Provides current access to the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) over 800+ journal titles. Site navigation in Chinese; full text search and download both in English and Chinese. NSSD is a free resource and users can register for an account with their email to keep track of download and viewing history; on-campus users, however, will be automatically logged in through the Oberlin institutional account.
-
JSTOR This link opens in a new windowScholarly journal archive for the humanities, social sciences and natural sciences; current issues (usually the last 2-5 years) are not digitized by JSTOR and may be obtained elsewhere.
-
Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window
Multidisciplinary - good for nearly all subjects. Scholarly and trade journals, popular magazines, newspapers, conference proceedings, book reviews, and more.
Order Of Reading
How To Read A Scholarly Article
Read The Abstract
The abstract will give you a general understanding of the article. Also, pay attention to the authors and their titles.
Read The Conclusion
The conclusion will summarize the author's findings including ways of improving the research.
Read The Introduction
The introduction will set up the layout of the article and the main argument of the article.
Tip #1: Highlight important ideas.
Read The First And Last Sentence Of Each Paragraph
The first and last sentence of each paragraph will give you a brief understanding of the discussion.
Tip #2: Take notes on the margins.
Read The Rest Of The Article
After getting a general idea of the article, read the entire article to get a full picture of the author's argument.
Tip #3: Repeat steps one and two.