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.
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.
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. - Entertainment Industry Magazine Archive This link opens in a new window
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EIMA is an historical archive of major trade and consumer magazines in film, television, music, radio, and theater, from their inception to 2000. Includes weekly Variety, Hollywood Reporter, American Cinematographer, Back Stage, Billboard, Broadcasting, Picturegoer, Screen International, Spin, and more. UCLA has access to parts I, II, and III of this database.
- 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. - Music Periodicals Database This link opens in a new window
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Provides indexing and abstracts for several hundred international music periodicals from over 20 countries, plus full text for more than 140 of the indexed journals. Former database title: International Index to Music Periodicals (IIMP) Full Text. - Project MUSE This link opens in a new window
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Full text of current issues (from about 1990) of scholarly journals published by university presses, chiefly in the arts, humanities and social sciences. Browsable by discipline and full-text searchable across all disciplines. UCLA has access to Muse e-books published from 2017-present, plus a selected number of other e-book titles. - Rock's Backpages This link opens in a new window
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Full text articles of rock and roll criticism from various publications, 1970's to current. - Web of Science This link opens in a new window
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A multidisciplinary database, with searchable author abstracts, covering the journal literature of most disciplines. Indexes major journals with all cited references captured. Combines the following citation databases: Science Citation Index Expanded; Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI); Arts & Humanities Citation Index (A&HCI); Conference Proceedings Citation Index.
News Sources
Newspapers are a good source for seeing how issues were covered in contemporary media. The Research Guide for News will lead you many different titles available online or in print.
Los Angeles Public Library
Not all articles are available in databases that UCLA subscribes to. The Los Angeles Public Library (LAPL) has a number of databases available to anyone with an LAPL library card. You can get an ECARD online-no need to go to a library-but this will only be good for a short time. It is better to get the regular card from the library. The closest LAPL branch is in Westwood at 1246 Glendon Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90024.
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.