Research Guides: First Year Writing: Finding Articles

Google Scholar

Google Scholar allows you to search the web for a variety of written work from a variety of academic sources. You can set up the Scholar Preferences to show in your results when an item is available through USD; follow the Scholar Preferences link to the Library Links section on the page. When you access Google Scholar through the link below, that preference is already set.

ILL - Interlibrary Loan

Interlibrary Loan at Copley Library

Enter here to order articles.

Remember, the Circuit will allow you to retrieve books that are available for checkout from Circuit member institutions, but this does not include journal articles. Use ILLiad to request articles, and be sure to provide as much information about the article as possible.

Multidisciplinary Databases

Check out these academic databases, which cover a range of scholarly disciplines, for starting your research. Many contain journals with full text articles.

Academic Search Premier This link opens in a new window
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.
JSTOR This link opens in a new window
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.
Project Muse This link opens in a new window
Provides online access to the full text of over 100 scholarly journals in the arts and humanities, social sciences, and mathematics.
Sage Premier Journals This link opens in a new window
The Premier package provides access to virtually all of the SAGE journal titles in the social sciences, business, humanities, medicine, physical and life sciences

Databases for Newspaper Articles and Popular Sources

These are just some of the databases available for finding more popular sources of information through Copley Library.

Los Angeles Times This link opens in a new window
Full-text coverage of the LA times from 1985 to the present.
New York Times (1980-Present) This link opens in a new window
This is considered the official U.S. newspaper because it publishes the complete text of important documents, speeches and presidential press conferences. The paper's reporters have won scores of Pulitzer Prizes throughout the publication's 150-year history.
Newspaper Source This link opens in a new window
Newspaper Source provides cover-to-cover full text for more than 40 (U.S.) and international newspapers. The database also contains selective full text for 389 regional (U.S.) newspapers. In addition, full text television and radio news transcripts are also provided.
Nexis Uni (formerly Lexis Nexis Academic Universe) This link opens in a new window
Nexis Uni (formerly known as Lexis Nexis Academic Universe) features more than 15,000 news, business and legal sources, including U.S. Supreme Court decisions dating back to 1790.
US Major Dailies This link opens in a new window
US Major Dailies provides access to the five most respected US national and regional newspapers, including The New York Times and Washington Post, co-exclusive access to The Wall Street Journal, and exclusive access to Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune.

Peer-Reviewed Journals

Peer-reviewed journals, also known as Refereed Journals or Scholarly Journals, are...

scholarly journals with articles that have been critically evaluated and approved by several scholars (expert peer-reviewers) before inclusion in a journal, not just by an editor.

reviewed by peers to assess the quality of the methodology, data, and conclusions presented.

Peer review lends credibility to the article because the process confirms the reliability of the data and the findings of the research.

Verify that a journal is peer-reviewed with Ulrich's Periodical Directory