How to Read Scholarly Articles
Before you download a bunch of articles and try to read them straight through--STOP! There is an easier way.
- Read a Scholarly ArticleTips on how to read scholarly articles strategically.
Find Journal Articles
Databases specializing in medical topics
- PubMed This link opens in a new windowU.S. National Library of Medicine search service to access 19 million citations from MEDLINE for biomedical articles back to 1948 and other related databases.'
- Public Library of Science (PLoS) This link opens in a new windowPLOS publishes peer-reviewed open-access journals in the life and health sciences.
- BioMed Central This link opens in a new windowSome full text available. Includes over 250 open access, peer-reviewed journals in science, technology, and medicine. When citations are marked 'subscription', locate the journal by using the Find a Specific Journal link on the library homepage.
- MEDLINE with Full Text (via EBSCO) This link opens in a new windowMore than 3,900 journals published internationally, covering all areas of medicine.
Covers: 1946 - present - CINAHL Plus with Full Text This link opens in a new windowCumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature. Provides indexing for more than 3000 journals in nursing, biomedicine, alternative medicine, consumer health. Has full text articles for 560 journals.
Covers: 1937 - present
Databases specializing in computer / information science
- ACM Digital Library This link opens in a new windowFull-text coverage of ACM (Association of Computing Machinery) periodicals and transactions. A few conference proceedings are also available in full-text. Includes citations to related articles in computing and information technology. Browse or search the contents of ACM publications. Enter your search in the search box near the top of the screen or click 'Advanced Search.'
Covers: 1945 - present (citations & full text)
- IEEE AccessSearch open-access journal articles from IEEE's publications. To limit to results you can access, use the "Open Access Only" option on the left of your results screen.
Interdisciplinary databases
- ArXiv This link opens in a new windowAn open access archive of e-prints of scientific papers in qualitative biology, physics, mathematics, computer science, quantitative finance and statistics.
- ScienceDirect This link opens in a new windowA collection of journals and other publications covering life sciences, health sciences, physical sciences and engineering as well as social sciences, humanities and business. (use buttons at top of page to go to journals or do a search)
- Omnifile Full-Text Select (H.W. Wilson) This link opens in a new windowA full-text database of almost 2000 periodical publications, including coverage of the sciences, humanities, education & other social sciences, business and information science.
- Google Scholar This link opens in a new windowUse this search engine to find scholarly works, including many online journals. You can link to free full text via Penfield's databases in this way: 1) choose settings from menu in upper left corner; 2) click library links in the left navigation bar and type 'SUNY Oswego' in box; 3) select the link provided; 4) click 'save.'
Need help?
Get Research Help
315-312-4267
askalibrarian@oswego.edu
askalibrarian@oswego.edu