Peer-reviewed journals, also known as Refereed journals or scholarly journals, are journals with articles that have been critically evaluated and approved by several scholars (reviewers with expertise in the subject of the article) before inclusion in a journal.
Peer reviews lend credibility to the article because the process confirms the reliability of the data and the findings of the research.
To verify that a journal is peer-reviewed check Ulrich's Periodical Directory
In addition to keyword searching, researchers can take advantage of collocating library resources by clicking on Library of Congress Subject Headings added by catalogers to book and other material type records. Below are some examples:
Artists with mental disabilities
Art museums and people with disabilities
People with disabilities -- Portraits
People with disabilities and the arts
People with disabilities in motion pictures
People with disabilities and the performing arts
People with visual disabilities and the arts
Boolean operators allow you to combine your keywords to create a search that the databases can use to retrieve the results you need. The words AND, OR are the most commonly used Boolean operators. The third is NOT, which can be difficult to use because it might exclude useful results.
AND combines your search terms and looks for them together in search result. Example: A search for Leonardo da Vinci AND Michelangelo will retrieve records that have both keywords: Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo.
OR separates your search terms, finding records that contain either keyword. Example: A search for Leonardo da Vinci OR Michelangelo will retrieve records all the records that contain either of the search terms as well as records with both of the search terms.
NOT finds records that only have the first keyword, but will exclude records that have both keywords or just the second keyword. A search for Leonardo da Vinci NOT Michelangelo will find records only containing Leonardo da Vinci and will exclude records that also include Michelangelo or are only about him. This boolean operator is only useful when you want to exclude a topic that is often associated with your first keyword. For example, if you wanted articles about Leonardo da Vinci's paintings excluding the Mona Lisa, the search: Leonardo da Vinci NOT Mona Lisa. Just remember that this type of search is very narrow and might exclude records that also include information on your topic.
Truncation allows you to get more results out of your search term. This is especially useful when there are many ways that the same word can be expressed. By using the root letters of your word plus the symbol *-- you may be able to find everything you need in a single search.
For example:
When searching the words Christian AND symbol only finds 26 results
Searching Christian AND symbol* can find increase your results to 378 records.
Even better by searching Christian* AND symbol* you can find 428 records.
Phrase Searching helps you retrieve specific information in an exact order. This is especially helpful when your search words are commonly used and therefore will retrieve too many records that are off topic.
You can accomplish this by using "quotations marks" to enclose your keyword phrase.
For example: "Last Supper" rather than Last Supper
You might also be able to use a drop down menu or check box if the database you are using has a phrase search option.
When you search for a topic in our databases sometimes the article will be available as full-text.
If the article is not available as full text, you will get a list of citations. These citations usually refer to articles appearing in journals, magazines and newspapers. Note the information in the citation (author, title, journal title, volume, date, page numbers).
Then, check our Catalog to see whether we have the journal either in our stacks or through a different online source.
If we do not subscribe to the journal where your article appears, you can use our Interlibrary Loan Service to request a copy of the article you need.
includes archives of over one thousand leading academic journals across the humanities, social sciences, and sciences, as well as select monographs and other materials valuable for academic work.
This database provides access to art and architectural history scholarship by making newly-released and born-digital publications as well as key backlist and out-of-print titles on a wide variety of subjects more broadly available and more widely discoverable through deep tagging on images and text, a robust image search that directs users toward relevant publications, and an interactive online reader tailored for highly illustrated works. The platform also permits professors to create course packs for students. The collection includes content from other university and museum publishers (Yale University Press, Art Institute of Chicago, The MIT Press, Harvard Art Museums, Yale University Art Gallery).
Provides full text for over 2,940 scholarly publications including social sciences, humanities, education, computer sciences, engineering, language and linguistics, arts & literature, health sciences, and ethnic studies.
Provides access to bibliographic information, author abstracts, and cited references from more than 1,130 of the world's leading arts and humanities journals. It also covers individually selected, relevant items from approximately 7,000 journals in the sciences and social sciences. (Dates of coverage: 1997-present.)
provides access to bibliographic information, author abstracts, and cited references from over 1,700 of the world’s leading scholarly social sciences journals covering more than 50 disciplines.
ProQuest Dissertations & Theses (PQDT) Global is the world's most comprehensive collection of dissertations and theses from around the world, offering millions of works from thousands of universities. Each year hundreds of thousands of works are added. Full-text coverage spans from 1743 to the present, with citation coverage dating back to 1637.