Scholarly v. Popular
- Anatomy of a Scholarly ArticleInteractive display of the key elements of a scholarly journal article.
- Here is a short video explaining PEER REVIEW.
Searching for Articles in Journals
There are several ways to search for journal articles. You can start with UC Library Search, using the Articles, Books and more option, which searches all the databases the UCLA Library subscribes to. Or you can go to a specific database, such as APA PsycINFO, Academic Search Complete, PubMed, etc.
In either case, start with a keyword search using words relevant to your topic. When you see some articles that look interesting, click on the title to see the complete citation. If there are subject terms or descriptors, click on those that seem related to your topic to get other articles on the subject.
Searching for Journal Titles
If the item you find does not have full text online, copy the title of the journal and search for it in the UCLA Library Search. Paste the title into the Search box. Select your title from the list and see if UCLA owns the item you seek. If there is an Available Online link, you can find the full text online. When using these links be sure to check and see if the coverage includes the volume/year that you need.
Databases that Index Journal Articles
This is a very select list of available article databases. If you want to look for others, go to this page and click through to your discipline (political science, sociology, history, etc.). Here you will find a selection of the most useful databases for each discipline listed.
Once you get the results in a particular database, you can limit them by date of publication, type of article or other terms.
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is your link to full-text! Note that some sources only index journal articles—they don't actually have the full text.
- Use the button to find the full text or search for the journal title in the UCLA Library Catalog.
- Request the article through interlibrary loan if UCLA does not own the full text.
For more tips, see our guide on database searching.
- Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window
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A multidisciplinary database that indexes over 10,000 publications, with the complete text of over 5,500 periodicals, including a mix of peer-reviewed journals, magazines, and newspapers. - America: History & Life This link opens in a new window
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Historical coverage of the United States and Canada from prehistory to the present. Indexes articles from over 1,700 history journals published worldwide since 1964. - ERIC (EBSCO) This link opens in a new window
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Index to journal articles and gray literature on educational research and practice from 1969 to the present and ERIC documents since 1966. - Ethnic NewsWatch This link opens in a new window
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Complete text of articles from 1959 to the present from publications of the ethnic, minority, and native press. Covers news, culture, and history, and is searchable in both English and Spanish. - GenderWatch This link opens in a new window
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Full text database of publications that focus on the impact of gender across multiple subject areas. Publications include scholarly journals, magazines, newspapers, newsletters, regional publications, books, and more. - JSTOR This link opens in a new window
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Full text of core scholarly journals from their beginning to approximately five years ago. Disciplines include botany, business, ecology, general science, humanities, mathematics, social sciences, statistics. Browsable by discipline and full-text searchable across all disciplines. UCLA has access to selected JSTOR e-books. - Los Angeles Times This link opens in a new window
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Full text (no ads or pictures) from 1985 to the present. For access to older issues, see Proquest Historical Newspapers: Los Angeles Times [1881-2015]. - APA PsycInfo This link opens in a new window
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Abstracts and citations to journal articles, books, book chapters, conference proceedings, and dissertations relevant to students, researchers, and professionals working in the psychological, social, behavioral, and health sciences. - Sociological Abstracts This link opens in a new window
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Indexes the international literature in sociology and related disciplines in the social and behavioral sciences from 1,800+ serials publications; also provides abstracts of books, book chapters, dissertations, and conference papers. Coverage from 1952-present.
Los Angeles Public Library
Not all articles are available in databases that UCLA subscribes to. The Los Angeles Public Library (LAPL) has over 250 databases available to anyone with an LAPL library card. You can get an ECARD online-no need to go to a library.
The most useful database to try searching is Research Library (ProQuest), which UCLA does not subscribe to. It has some online journals not at UCLA.