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.
Article Databases
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.
Subject focused
- 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. - ATLA Religion Database This link opens in a new window
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Index to journal articles, book reviews, and collections of essays in all scholarly fields of religion; includes articles written in 36 languages. - Historical Abstracts This link opens in a new window
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Index and abstracts for articles on the history of the world from 1450 to the present (excluding the United States and Canada, which are covered in America: History and Life) published since 1955.
- History of Science, Technology and Medicine This link opens in a new window
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This database integrates four bibliographies: the Isis Current Bibliography of the History of Science, the Current Bibliography in the History of Technology, the Bibliografia Italiana di Storia della Scienza, and the Wellcome Library for the History and Understanding of Medicine. - PubMed This link opens in a new window
Citations for biomedical literature from MEDLINE, life science journals, and online books. Citations may include links to full-text content from PubMed Central and publisher web sites. Also searches NCBI's integrated molecular biology databases, including nucleotide sequences, protein sequences, 3-D protein structure data, population study data sets, and assemblies of complete genomes in an integrated system. Note: This link uses a special address which turns on Get it at UC. Without that, PubMed does not link to UCLA's online subscriptions.
- Scientific American This link opens in a new window
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Latest news and features on "science issues that matter," including earth, environment, and space. Includes Scientific American Archive Online, 1845-present.
General/Multidisciplinary
- 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. - JSTOR This link opens in a new window
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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.
- Periodicals Index Online (PIO) This link opens in a new window
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Index to articles published in over 7,000 periodicals in the arts, humanities and social sciences, covering the period 1665-1995. Full text of many articles can be found in Periodicals Archive Online. - 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.
- Google Scholar This link opens in a new windowSearches articles, theses, books, abstracts, patents, and court opinions from academic publishers, professional societies, online repositories, universities, and other web sites.
Newspapers Links to current and historical newspapers can be found on this guide.
Cite Your Sources
When citing sources be sure to use the proper citation style for the course. Below are links to ONLINE summarized citation rules from some of the more popular style guides:
- MLA (Modern Language Association)
- APA (American Psychological Association)
- Chicago Manual of Style (University of Chicago Press)
- Turabian (Based on the Chicago Manual of Style)
Some other online sites that summarize citation rules:
For more detail, consult the complete printed style manuals, available in many campus libraries:
- MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (7th edition)
- Publication Manual of the American Pscychological Association (5th edition)
- Chicago Manual of Style (15th edition)
- Turabian's A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations (7th edition)
For a general introduction to academic citation and intellectual property, see Bruin Success with Less Stress.