What's expected?
Your professor wants you to use a minimum of 3-4 scholarly articles that are directly linked to your term paper topic. See your course syllabus for details. How do you know if an article is scholarly? Look for articles . . .
- in which the author is clearly affiliated with a credible organization or institution and has credentials in keeping with the work presented,
- that contain a clearly defined thesis, a method of research and analysis, and a discussion of the author's conclusions or results
- that contain a list of references demonstrating that the author has done a search of the literature to assure originality and a thorough treatment of the topic.
What is a Scholarly Article? From: Meriam Library, California State University, Chico
What makes a journal article peer reviewed? Watch Peer Review in Three minutes from North Carolina State University Libraries.
Good place to start your search for articles.
A good place to begin your search for scholarly articles is by using the main search engine on the library's home page. It is labeled Find Research Materials. This search engine enables you to search most of the library's databases at one time. Be sure to use the drop down menu and select the Articles only option if you want to limit your search to just articles.
Tutorials that can help you with searching this search engine can be found a the EBSCO Support site. Look under the Searching category.
Below is a search box for this search engine.
Find Journal Articles - Specialized Databases
These database focus specifically on article literature in the environmental sciences.
- Applied Science & Technology Source, 1965 - present This link opens in a new windowSearch scholarly journals and professional literature about the atmospheric sciences, chemistry, computer science, engineering, geology, physics, and more.
Covers: 1965 - present - Environment Complete This link opens in a new windowDeep coverage of sustainability issues, with indexing beginning in the 1940s. Also full text of current core journals and books.
Covers: 1940 - 1974 (citations only), 1975 - present (citations & full text) - GreenFILE This link opens in a new windowAn interdisciplinary database covering topics related to environmental concerns and sustainability. Includes indexing and abstracts for articles and books.
Find Journal Articles - Multidisciplinary Databases
These databases include article literature from a variety of disciplines including the environmental sciences and related fields of study.
- Academic OneFile This link opens in a new window
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An interdisciplinary scholarly collection including full-text articles in nearly every area of academic study. Sources include leading journals and authoritative reference sources. - Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new windowThis interdisciplinary scholarly collection offers information in nearly every area of academic study, including: sciences, social sciences, arts & literature, ethnic studies, and many more. Full-text for over 6,100 titles (5,100 peer-reviewed); indexing and abstracting for 10,600 titles; complete historical coverage and citation searching for select titles.
Covers: Varies by journal title (many 1975 - present) - General OneFile This link opens in a new window
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General news and periodical articles on a wide range of topics. More general/popular in nature than Academic OneFile, a complementary Gale database. - JSTOR This link opens in a new window
Arts & Sciences I, Arts & Sciences II, Arts & Sciences VII, Language & Literature, and Life Sciences Collections. An archive of important scholarly journal literature and ebooks. In most cases, full text of the journal is available from the first issue to date.
- 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.
- Research Library This link opens in a new windowSearch over 2,700 periodicals for information on a broad range of general reference subjects including arts, business, humanities, social sciences, and the sciences.
- 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)
