Scholarly and/or Peer-Reviewed Articles

Keywords are words that can appear anywhere in an article including the title or the article text. You'll use keywords to search all of the library databases.   

Before you begin searching, try to think of the keywords and related terms that best describe and relate to your topic. For example, if you were researching depression in new moms, you might come up with this list:

When it comes to searching academic databases, use scientific language. For instance, search mothers instead of moms. Another example might be looking for children instead of kids.

• Identify a few keywords and search using only those words: depression postpartum mothers.
• Avoid natural language: Asking a database "Why are new moms depressed?" won't get you very good results.
• Make sure terms are spelled correctly and that you use other terms that might also apply to, or describe your topic.  For example if you want to find articles about teenagers, you should also use the terms adolescents and young adults.
• If you aren't sure about what keywords to use, consider reading an encyclopedia article on your topic to get ideas for other keywords.
• Ask the library staff or your instructor for suggestions on keywords to use. 

Here's an example of a common but incorrect searching style in PsycINFO:

This searcher needs to refocus on scientific language and get rid of the extra words.

This search is better, because it focuses on scientific language. But it still will yield few results because PsycINFO will interpret this search as a phrase, so it will look for all of these words right next to each other. Some authors may use this exact phrase so you may get 1 or 2 results.

In this search, the main concepts (keywords) are separated by the word AND. That's a Boolean Operator. It is telling PsycINFO that you want to find all three of these main concepts anywhere in the record for the article, but that the words don't have to be altogether in order. This search will get you the best results.

Adapted from the

EBSCOhost is a collection of databases, most with full-text, covering a comprehensive range of subjects - business, medicine, pharmacology, nursing, psychology, education, sociology, and more. Many of these specialized databases contain scholarly articles, if you limit your search to find them.

NOTE: If working off-campus, enter your KCTCS ID and Password (same one you use for Blackboard) when prompted.

Gale contains a couple of databases, though most of what you'll use is located in one: Academic OneFile. Search by topic, then choose the menu link for Academic Journals and then check the box for peer-reviewed.

JSTOR is a multi-disciplinary database.  It covers over 50 different disciplines/subject areas including: Biology, Sociology, History, Business, Psychology, Performing Arts, Literature, and Archeology to name a few.

NOTE: If working off-campus, enter your KCTCS ID and Password (same one you use for email or Blackboard) when prompted.

Google Scholar searches specifically for scholarly materials such as journal articles, research reports, dissertations and theses, preprints, technical reports, patents, manuscripts in preparation, working papers and many other document types.

When you do a search in Google Scholar, you get a list of citations. You'll get links to the full text if it's from an open access (free) journal, or if the researcher posted the article on her/his website.

To get access to the full text of an article you find in Google Scholar, try searching for the exact title of the article in the library's databases.

ProQuest is a collection of many databases that provide access to thousands of journals, magazines, newspapers, dissertations, and other publications. ProQuest has a lot of articles about different careers and also contains local news via the Courier-Journal.

Note: Enter your KCTCS ID and Password (same one you use for email or Blackboard) when prompted.

This short video tutorial from the Saddleback College Library can help you use ProQuest (6:05). Please note that JCTC subscribes to different newspapers, so some of the search options she discusses might not be available or look exactly the same.