Research Assistance
Journal Article Indexes
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.
- Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new windowA general, multidisciplinary database. A good place to start, especially if you are interested in both scholarly and non-scholarly journals. Indexes major journals in many disciplines.
- Annual Bibliography of English Language and Literature (ABELL) This link opens in a new windowIndex of periodical articles, books, reviews, dissertations, and essays on English language, literature, bibliography, and related topics. Published 1920-2007.
- Black Studies Center This link opens in a new windowHistorical and current material for researching the past, present and future of African-Americans, the wider African Diaspora, and Africa itself. It is comprised of several cross-searchable component databases, including International Index to Black Periodicals, Black Literature Index and Schomburg Studies on the Black Experience (interdisciplinary essays written by leading scholars on the Black Experience).
- International Medieval Bibliography This link opens in a new windowInterdisciplinary bibliography of Europe, North Africa and the Near East for the period 300-1500. Comprehensive current bibliography of articles in journals and miscellany volumes (conference proceedings, essay collections or Festschriften) worldwide.
- 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.
- Literature Online This link opens in a new windowAlso known as LION. An array of literary databases (including the full text of poems, plays, and fiction), reference works (including bibliographies, encyclopedias, etc.), and links to other Web resources for the study of literature. The complete text of journal articles is available on the database for all or some of the journals indexed. Fully searchable texts of over 250,000 works in English and American Literature.
- Gale Literature This link opens in a new window
Searches multiple literary sources, including: Dictionary of Literary Biography, Literature Criticism Online, Literature Resource Center, Scribner Writer Series, and Twayne's Authors Series. Scroll down to click on Gale's Literary Index, a master index to the major literature products published by Gale.
- Gale Literature Criticism This link opens in a new windowContains access to a wide range of literary criticism including biographical and bibliographic information on authors and their works.
- Gale Literature Resource Center This link opens in a new windowA multi-purpose electronic resource that provides access to biographies, bibliographies, and critical analysis of authors from every age and literary discipline.
- MLA International Bibliography This link opens in a new windowThis is a core article database for literary studies.
- Periodicals Archive Online (PAO) This link opens in a new windowFull text of articles published in over 500 periodicals in the humanities and social sciences from 1665 to 2000. Includes book reviews.
- Periodicals Index Online (PIO) This link opens in a new windowRelated to Periodicals Archive Online, this index covers more journals but does not include full-text. Use UC-eLinks to see if full-text is available.
- 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.
- Web of Science This link opens in a new window
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.
Electronic Journals
New electronic journals are popping up every day, so I will not include many links here. To find electronic journals accessible from UCLA as well as journals freely available on the web, go to the UCLA Library's e-journals search. You can search by keyword or exact phrase, such as "American poetry," or you can limit by subject area.
- Comitatus: A Journal of Medieval and Renaissance StudiesPublished and made freely available online by UCLA's Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies.
- The Digital Humanities Quarterly (DHQ)Digital humanities is a diverse and still emerging field that encompasses the practice of humanities research in and through information technology, and the exploration of how the humanities may evolve through their engagement with technology, media, and computational methods. DHQ seeks to provide a forum where practitioners, theorists, researchers, and teachers in this field can share their work with each other and with those from related disciplines.
- Open Humanities PressA scholarly press dedicated to publishing open access, peer-reviewed journals in the humanities.
Additional Documentation
ProQuest, the company that published Early English Books Online and LiON, has put together training guides for both resources. If you'd like additional training on how to use either, please check them out.
Style Manuals and Guides
- Bruin Success with Less StressEverything you need to know about citing sources and avoiding plagiarism in the course of your research.
