Journal articles report the results of research by experts. Sometimes they're also called "peer-reviewed articles," "scholarly articles," or "academic articles." They are often used in academic research.
You should use journal articles because they:
Find journal articles in these databases:
Religion Database provides a wide range of primarily full-text periodicals and other sources for diverse religious and spiritual studies, covering formal theological studies and commentary on topics of general interest from the perspectives of many worldwide religions. As well as scholarly journals there are many titles from religious publishing bodies and nondenominational organizations. The resource reflects a wide spectrum of religious belief systems and supports the global study of religion.
Some books include research by experts, and you may want to use them in your research project.
You should use books because they:
Find books in these databases:
Images are the visual depictions of scholarly and creative works. Video represents a wide variety of streaming media sources including documentary films, concerts and recitals, lectures, demonstrations, experiments, animations, interviews, news stories, and feature films.
You should use images because they:
Find images and video in these databases:
Academic Video Online is the most comprehensive video subscription available to libraries. It delivers video titles spanning the widest range of subject areas including anthropology, business, counseling, film, health, history, music, and more. Curated for the educational experience, the massive depth of content and breadth of content-types (such as documentaries, films, demonstrations, etc.) makes this database a useful resource for faculty and students alike.
Search or browse all of the collections licensed from Alexander Street Press. Types of resources from this publisher include video, audio, and music scores.
Primary sources are immediate, first-hand accounts of an event, created by people who had a direct connection with it. You should use primary sources to provide direct evidence about how people thought, felt, and lived at the time.
Examples of primary sources include:
Find primary sources in these databases:
At completion, Disability in the Modern World will include 150,000 pages of primary sources, supporting materials, and archives, along with 125 hours of video. The content is essential for teaching and research—not only in the growing disciplines of disability history and disability studies, but also in history, media, the arts, political science, education, and other areas where the contributions of the disability community are typically overlooked.
Unlike Google, library databases can't understand complete sentences. You'll need to break your topic down into the most important concepts, also called keywords, and use those keywords to search library databases.
Example topic: How does social media impact happiness among teenagers?
Keywords: social media, happiness, teenagers
Brainstorm synonyms:
Sometimes experts use different terms than we use in everyday conversation. It's important to think of synonyms and related terms for your keywords so that you can use different combinations of words to get the best results when searching.
Keyword: teenagers
Synonyms: adolescents, youth
Library databases often have built-in search tools. Try them out!
Experts often cite each other's work, and that can help you find more sources on your topic!
To find older relevant sources:
To find newer relevant sources: