Content

How to Find Articles

Journals--A publication, issued on a predictable schedule, that contains scholarly articles written by researchers and for researchers in a subject area.
- Peer-reviewed journals (also called refereed journals)-- Scholarly journals that only publish articles which have been reviewed by scholars in the field of interest.
Magazines--A publication, issued on a predictable schedule, that is intended for the general public.
Newspapers

The following multidisciplinary databases are good starting places:
- Academic Search Complete video
  
  Academic Search Complete: Search for magazine and journal articles from 1984 to date.
  Note: This database provides an option to limit your search results to scholarly (peer reviewed) journals.
- Scopus video
  
  Scopus: Search for articles in over 18,000 peer reviewed journals and find out who is citing them.
- JSTOR
  
  JSTOR: Access back files of over 300 journals from the sciences, social sciences and arts and humanities (does not include the last five years of issues)
- Summon@MU
  
  Summon@MU: Search Summon for articles in journals, magazines and newspapers as well as books
  Note: This resource provides an option to limit your results to journal articles.
For newspaper articles try one of the following:
- Press Display (last 60 days only)
- Factiva (1980's to current)
- Additional newpaper databases
For additional sources for articles, check our listing of databases by subject

Keywords--Select terms that describe the main concepts of your topic. Include synonyms.
Boolean operators--combine your keywords using AND and OR video
- AND narrows your search by looking for articles with all of the words
- OR broadens your search by looking for articles with any of the words
Use quotation marks to search for phrases
Use parentheses to indicate search order. Search statements within parentheses are performed first.
Search topic: What is the effect of dark chocolate on health?
Search strategy: "dark chocolate" and (health or wellness)

Many databases contain the full-text of articles.
If the article is not full-text in the database follow the link. One of three things should happen.
- You will be taken directly to the article.
- You will be taken to a screen that tells you we have the publication in print and provides the location (campus library and call number)
- You will be taken to a screen that says this item isn't available at MU and provided with the option to use our interlibrary loan service to request the article from another library. All of the relevant parts of the citation will copy over onto the request form after you log on to the ILL@MU system with your pawprint.

If you have an article citation, fill out this form to locate the full-text of a specific article either online or in print.