Article Databases
Search an article database to find citations (title, author, title of journal, date, page numbers) for articles on a particular topic. The Library gives you access to over 200 article databases covering different disciplines.
1. Think about which academic disciplines might write about your topic. Examples: literature, film, anthropology, history...
2. Find the appropriate article database by subject (academic discipline or department). Look for "Recommended" databases.
Library home > Articles > Article Databases by Subject
Sample Searches - Articles
Sample searches in CSA Illumina Social Science databases:
Library home > Articles > Article Databases by Subject > Sociology > Sociology Abstracts: click on the CSA Illumina Social Sciences link to search multiple social science databases
1. Example of a search using multiple terms, phrase searching, alternative terms, truncation,etc
chican* or mexican american* or latino* (keywords)
student* (keywords)
relationship* (keywords)
keywords = searches most important parts of the record
* = truncation symbol or wildcard; child* = child, childs, children, childish, childhood
2. search using official subject terms ("descriptors")
chican* or mexican american* or latino* (keywords)
student* (keywords)
peers or friendship* (descriptor)
3. another example:
native american* or indian* (keywords)
reservation* (keywords)
college* or universit* (descriptor)
4. be creative, eliminate search terms as necessary:
rap (keywords)
asian american* (keywords)
masculin* or men or male* (keywords)
asian american* (keywords)
masculin* (keywords)
masculin* (keywords)
Sample searches in Ethnic NewsWatch (ethnic newspapers):
Library home > Articles > Article Databases by Subject > Ethnic Studies > Ethnic NewsWatch
guatemala* (citation and document text )
identit* (citation and document text)
narrow results to items with these terms in the abstract or first paragraph(s):
guatemala* (abstract )
identit* (abstract)
what a more complicated search looks like:
rap or hip hop (abstract)
asian american* (citation and document text)
masculin* or men or male* (citation and document text)
note: the pull down menu "Ethnic group" refers to the ethnic group of the newspaper
(note: ethnic group refers to the selection of the newspaper)
Search Results
- click on the title to see full record (including abstracts and descriptors)
- to limit by publication type (peer-reviewed journals, conferences, books, etc.) click on the appropriate tab or link
- if necessary,look for other limits (latest update, journal articles only, english only) and more advanced searches
- select records to save to your personalized list; lists may be e-mailed, downloaded, printed
UC-eLinks - Find Article Text/Location
Once you've searched a database to find articles, you may need to use 
to link to a PDF or html file if the full text is not immediately available. Each database is a bit different, but a good rule of thumb is this: when you see the Uc-eLinks icon click on it to view your article access options, which can range from full text to a call number to an Interlibrary Loan request:
For more information, here's a tutorial on using UC-eLinks.