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
About JSTOR!
Library home > Articles > General Article Databases > JSTOR
Everyone Loves JSTOR:
- interdisciplinary
- scholarly
- full text available AND searchable - you may find topics you won't find elsewhere because they're only part of an article on a related topic
- covers journals from their earliest publication dates
CAUTIONS:
- DOES NOT INCLUDE THE LAST 3-5 YEARS of a journal! not good for contemporary topics!
- doesn't include as many journals in a particular discipline as the discipline-specific database (example: MLA Bibliography for literature)
Examples of Useful Databases
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Academic Search Complete
A multidisciplinary index to articles in more than 10,900 journals and other publications in English, Spanish, German, French, Italian and Portuguese; full-text is available for over 5300 journals.
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ProQuest Social Sciences
An interdisciplinary metasearch through core indexes in the social sciences including Worldwide Political Science Abstracts, International Bibliography of the Social Sciences (IBSS), Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts, Sociological Abstracts, PsycInfo, PAIS, and more.
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Ethnic News Watch
Indexes over 200 ethnic, minority, and native press publications. Contains news, culture, and history searchable in both English and Spanish. Also includes a retrospective backfile of titles (1960-1989).
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Access World News
Provides full-text information and perspectives from over 600 U.S. and over 700 international sources. Offers strong regional coverage, indexing more than California newspapers such as Contra Costa Times (1995-current), Sacramento Bee (1984-current), San Francisco Chronicle (1985-current), and San Jose Mercury News (1985-current). Search categories include: California newspapers (121 titles), Greater Los Angeles (54 titles), major metropolitan titles (13 titles), Spanish-language news sources (48 titles), the World (almost 2000 titles), US (855 titles). Easier to use than Lexis-Nexis Academic and good for smaller newspapers.
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LexisNexis Academic
Includes over 6,000 individual titles of international, national and local newspapers and wire services; radio and television transcripts; and business, medical, industry, and legislative magazines, journals, and newsletters. Wide geographic coverage and translations from foreign-language sources, as well as news services like the Associated Press, Agence France Press, El Pais and Xinhua (New China) News Agency. Largest newspaper database but most complicated to use.
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LegalTrac
Indexes journals, law reviews, and magazines related to legal research and commentary on case studies, government regulations, the practice of law, statutes, taxation, and international law.
Sample Searches - Article Databases
Social Sciences - scholarly articles + dissertations + ethnic newspapers
Library home > Articles > Article Databases by Subject > Ethnic Studies > ProQuest Social Sciences
Example of a search using multiple terms, phrase searching, alternative terms, truncation,etc
gender justice (all fields + text)
"gender justice" (all fields + text)
"gender justice" (all fields + no full text)
prison* or jail* or correctional or incarcerat* (all fields + no full text)
"united states" or america* (all fields + no full text)
* = truncation symbol/wildcard (prison* = prison, prisons, prisoner, prisoners...)
Mainstream newspapers: especially local California newspapers
Library home > Articles > News article databases > Access World News
if desired, click on California newspapers
delano ii prison (all text) - no results! a little googling for an alternative term:
kern valley state prison (all text)
"california coalition for women prisoners" (all text)
Linking to Your Article
In order to link to your article you need a "persistent link" - one that doesn't go away after the session is over. Each library database does this differently.
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.
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