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.
- Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new windowA 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 windowHistorical coverage of the United States and Canada from prehistory to the present. Indexes articles from over 1,700 history journals published worldwide since 1964.
- GenderWatch This link opens in a new window
Full text publications focusing on the impact of gender across multiple subject areas. Include scholarly journals, magazines, newspapers, newsletters, regional publications, books, and more.
- JSTOR This link opens in a new window
Full text back issues of core scholarly journals, browsable and searchable across multiple disciplines. Coverage starts with first issue, with moving wall for most recent 3-5 years. UCLA has access to selected JSTOR e-books only. JSTOR also includes primary source collections, including images from Artstor.
- MLA International Bibliography This link opens in a new windowIndexes worldwide publications on literature, language, linguistics, folklore, film, television, and theater from 1923 to the present. See also the MLA Directory of Periodicals.
- Project MUSE This link opens in a new window
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.
- UC Library Search This link opens in a new window
UC Library Search is the unified discovery and borrowing system for all 10 UC Campuses. Select the UCLA Library Catalog scope to search holdings of materials owned by the UCLA Library and other UCLA collections, whether online or in print. Does not contain full-text articles or article citations. Select the Articles, books and more scope to search for materials in all 10 UC campuses. More information in this guide.
Encyclopedias
Encyclopedias are a good place to start if you need an overview of a topic you are unfamiliar with. They will often include a bibliography of sources that you can consult for more information.
The links below lead you to a selection of encyclopedia titles/collections that might be relevant to your topics. Some of the links are to groups of titles from a single publisher--you can select those that seem appropriate to your topic.
- Gale E-Books (formerly Gale Virtual Reference Library) This link opens in a new window
Online encyclopedias, dictionaries, and specialized reference sources, primarily in the social sciences and humanities.
- International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral SciencesA scholarly encyclopedia covering disciplines of the social and behavioral sciences: Anthropology, Economics, Geography, Political Science, Psychology, Social Welfare, Sociology, and related fields and concepts.
- Oxford Reference This link opens in a new windowIncludes a wide selection of subject encyclopedias and dictionaries published by Oxford University Press. UC subscription allows limited simultaneous users, so if you can't connect try again later.
- SAGE Knowledge This link opens in a new windowReference books covering the social sciences and education, including such areas as African American Studies, Aging & Gerontology, Anthropology, Communication and Media Studies, Criminology and Criminal Justice, Economics, Education, Gender & Sexuality Studies, History, Politics, Psychology, Social Issues, Social Work & Social Policy, and Sociology.
Other Background Resources
- The Sixties: Primary Documents and Personal Narratives This link opens in a new window
This searchable database brings the 1960s alive through diaries, letters, autobiographies and other memoirs, written and oral histories, manifestos, government documents, memorabilia, and scholarly commentary. The database covers subjects in arts, music, and leisure, civil rights, counter-culture, law and government, mass media, new left and emerging neo-conservative movement, student activism, Vietnam War, women's movement, etc.
- Independent Voices This link opens in a new window
Full text of more than 1000 open access alternative publications from the 1960s-1980s covering feminists, dissident GIs, campus radicals, Native Americans, anti-war activists, Black Power advocates, Latinos, LGBTQ+ activists, and more.
- Women and Social Movements in the United States, 1600-2000 This link opens in a new windowA collection of books, images, documents, scholarly essays, commentaries, and bibliographies, documenting the multiplicity of women's reform activities.
- Black Thought and Culture This link opens in a new windowFull text collection of non-fiction published prose and oratory by leading African Americans. Writing is focused on research in black studies, political science, American history, music, literature, and art.