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CMST 132 - Small Group Communication

Library Research Assignment Section Four:
Searching Library Academic Databases for Articles

You can use scholarly article databases to find further information on the issue you are considering for your Problem Solving Presentation.  You may find information on such questions as why people talk about your topic and why they consider it an issue.   You can also gain a sense of what facts are recognized about your issue, and what arguments have been advanced for and against it.

The articles in the databases available from the Meriam Library are from scholarly publications – they are much more focused on academic research than the journalistic news articles you found in the previous sections.  Nearly all of the articles to which you have access through scholarly databases are not freely available via web search engines such as Google or Yahoo.


For this section, use the Academic Search database.  This is a broad database, and as such is generally a good place to start when conducting academic research on a topic.

From the ReSEARCH Station select Databases A-Z. Academic Search is listed after “Not sure where to start?” at the top of the page.

Academic Search screenshot

Search the database using the search strings you developed above.  You will see that you have three search bars stacked on top of each other and connected by the AND and OR operators, similar to ProQuest Newsstand and LexisNexis Academic in the previous sections.

When searching, keep in mind the following tips:

  • In the box towards the bottom of the screen titled “Publication Type,” select “Periodical” to search journal articles specifically.

  • You can retrieve only results that have the full text of the article by checking the “Full text” checkbox.

  • You can retrieve only results in peer-reviewed journals by checking the “Scholarly (Peer Reviewed) Journals checkbox.  Peer-reviewed means that articles in a given journal have all been subjected to a review by experts in a field who have agreed to serve as reviewers for that journal.

Checking this box typically ensures that your search results will present you with more authoritative research than you would otherwise find. That said, however, the checkbox is not an absolute guarantee that your results will be articles presenting original scholarly research -- you may for example retrieve a book review, which comes from a scholarly journal but is not a work of research. Even with the checkbox checked, you should still review the articles you retrieve to make sure they present original scholarly research. This online guide to scholarly resources shows you how to distinguish between scholarly and non-scholarly works.

  • You can set a date range for your results in the “Published Date From” section.
What you should have completed:

Your worksheet, with the following sections filled out:

  • section one (constructing a search string)
  • information on an article from either section two or three
  • information on an article from section four


 

You are here:

Six section diagram -- section four
Assignment created by Aaron Bowen.