How to Effectively Search for Scholarly Peer-Reviewed Articles & News Articles in Databases
SFCC Library Database Page - https://libguides.spokanefalls.edu/az.php Links to an external site.
General databases cover multiple disciplines or a wide range of subjects. General databases give you information about articles from many disciplines (i.e. Psychology, Sociology, Criminal Justice, Business).
Subject databases are specialized and cover articles, indexes, news and legal information, and compilations of other information related to a particular subject or discipline, like health.
This means that every database as different types of information and different purposes. Use the SFCC Library Database page above to view all the databases subscribed to by SFCC, read the descriptions, and select the databases that fit your subject area the best.
Database Recommendations for IBH
Scholarly Journal - Peer Reviewed Journals
General Databases
- Academic Search Complete Links to an external site.: Comprehensive scholarly database with more than 7,000, full text, peer reviewed journals. Limit your search to scholarly/peer reviewed journals
- ProQuest Links to an external site.: Database of articles from magazines, newspapers, trade publications and scholarly journals. Limit your search to scholarly/peer reviewed journals
- Google Scholar Links to an external site.: A search engine that allows users to search for academic resources and scholarly literature such as abstrats, full-text articles, theses, books, and more across many disciplines.
Subject Databases
- ScienceDirect: Health & LifeSciences Links to an external site.- A collection of full-text, scholarly articles and book chapters concerning health and life sciences--includes open access journals. Limit your search to research journals.
- CINAHL Complete Links to an external site.: The Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) database offers full-text articles for more than 1300 nursing and allied health journals. Limit your search to academic journals.
Current News (newspapers, magazines, trade journals)
- ProQuest Links to an external site.: Limit your search to newspapers
- Academic Search Complete: Links to an external site. Limit your search to newspapers
Library Databases - What are they? How do you use them?
Database How To's
Library databases are a great place to find full-text articles from magazines, newspaper and scholarly journals, as well as full-text ebooks (these count as a book).
Flip through the following presentation to learn more about:
- what databases are
- how to access the SFCC library databases
- how to use filters to narrow results to full-text and/or scholarly articles.
DIRECT LINK TO PRESENTATION Links to an external site.
For more information about about logging in and using our some of databases visit these library guides:
Having a hard time finding scholarly articles?
Try these steps...
- Make sure you are searching in multiple databases.
- Advanced search screens in search engine/databases allow you to more search options then your basic search. The library databases often default to the Advanced Search screen but here is a shortcut to Google Advanced Search. Links to an external site.
- Experiment with search terms and look at the subject terms listed in the database on articles that look like a good fit and incorporate them in your search terms.
- Example search terms: interventions AND "health equity" AND poverty (switch out different terms for poverty based on your search topic like "climate change," education, ethnicity, etc.)
- Example search in Academic Search Complete. Links to an external site.
- Don't be afraid to request digital copies of articles through InterLibrary Loan (see module for instructions). Make sure you fill out the official SFCC Library ILL form Links to an external site.and don't try to request an article through a database or catalog.