Librarian's Corner
Pick two or three key terms that are essential to your topic and enter into advanced search.
Try different phrases,various versions of the term, or less key terms if your search is unsuccessful.
Boolean terms <and, not, or> help to define and focus your search, resulting in targeted academic articles on your topic.
Be patient! It might take multiple attempts to find relevant articles.
For my research example, I would use different combinations of these search terms:
African women- Political leadership- Patriarchy- Economic Development
Useful Tips
Databases identify and locate articles published in magazines, journals and newspapers. Many databases also index essays, book chapters and monographs.
- Tip 1: Some of the databases provide full-text coverage of journals.
- Tip 2: If the database does not provide full-text, use Get it! Cornell or search the library catalog for the journal title (or book title). This will provide you with Cornell's holdings of the journal (in both print and electronic form).
- Tip 3: For more precise searching use the advance search feature of the chosen database.
Selected Databases
Multi-disclipinary Databases:
- Academic Search PremierThis multi-disciplinary database provides full text for more than 8,500 journals, including full text for more than 4,600 peer-reviewed titles. PDF backfiles to 1975 or further are available for well over one hundred journals, and searchable cited references are provided for more than 1,000 titles.
- ProQuest Research LibraryProQuest Research Library, formerly known as Periodical Abstracts, is a comprehensive database available through the ProQuest online system. It indexes and abstracts general interest magazines and scholarly journals in the social sciences, humanities and sciences. It comprises two components: a core list of periodicals covering about 800 publications, and 15 subject-specific modules that supplement the core list. Modules cover arts, business, children, education, general interest, health, humanities, international studies, law, military, multicultural studies, psychology, sciences, social sciences, and women's interests. Full text of many articles is provided.
- JSTORJSTOR is a fully-searchable database containing the back issues of several hundred scholarly journals in the humanities, social sciences, mathematics, music, ecology and botany, business, and other fields. It includes the following collections: Arts & sciences I, II and III, General science, Ecology and botany, Business, Language and literature.
Africana Specific:
- Africa-WideAn index covering material on Africa from the 19th century to the present.
- Black Studies CenterBlack Studies Center combines invaluable resources for research and teaching in Black studies: Schomburg studies on the Black experience, International index of Black periodicals (IIBP), The Chicago defender, ProQuest dissertations for Black studies, and Black literature index. This fully cross-searchable gateway to Black studies includes scholarly essays, recent periodicals, historical newspaper articles, and much more.
- Ethnic NewsWatchEthnic NewsWatch is a full-text collection of the newspapers, magazines and journals of the ethnic, minority and native press from 1960.
Newspapers:
- Nexis UniProvides access to full text resources on topics including current and general news; business and financial information; newspapers; company directories; government and politics; medical and health topics; accounting, auditing, and tax; federal and state laws; legal cases; and regulations. Resources include TV and radio news transcripts.
- ProQuest Historical NewspapersThis database offers full-text and full-image articles for newspapers dating back to the 19th century. For most titles, the collection includes digital reproductions of every page from every issue, cover to cover, in downloadable PDF files. The database is an ongoing project.
- Library PressDisplayLibrary PressDisplay provides online access for the last 90 days to over 6,000 newspapers from more than 100 countries, displayed in their original format and accessible by country, language, or title.