Journal articles provide in-depth information about current scholarly research. They summarize, analyze and contextualize the results of this research in order to expand the knowledge base in a given academic area.
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.
class="box-in-box highlight">is your link to full-text! Note that some sources only index journal articles—they don't actually have the full text.
For more tips, see our guide on database searching.
Peer Review is a process that journals use to ensure the articles they publish represent the best scholarship currently available. When an article is submitted to a peer reviewed journal, the editors send it out to other scholars in the same field (the author's peers) to get their opinion on the quality of the scholarship, its relevance to the field, its appropriateness for the journal, etc.
Google Scholar can be useful in identifying books and articles related to your topic. But, be aware of its limitations.
Read more about Google Scholar at http://scholar.google.com/intl/en/scholar/about.html