For most precise searching, search databases individually.
llustration of arctic animals from Narrative of Discovery and Adventure in the Polar Regions (1830), by Sir John Lesley, Robert Jameson, and Hugh Murray (1830).
How to find articles
Three Steps
1. Find a database by browsing the list here, or on the Library home page's Databases by name or subject.
2. Click on the link to get into the database.
3. Search the database for articles.
Database Tips
Databases identify and locate articles published in magazines, journals and newspapers. Many databases also index essays, book chapters and monographs.
Tip 1: Many databases provide full-text of journal articles.
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, it is best to search the databases individually (rather than using Articles & Full Text search).
Film Reviews
Looking for film reviews?
Cornell's Guide to Library Research on Film lists databases that include sources of film reviews.
How to Identify Scholarly Journal Articles
Evaluating the sources you find is a crucial step in the process of scholarly research. The questions you ask about books, periodical articles, or multimedia sources are similar whether you're looking at a citation to the item or have the item in hand.
Read: Distinguishing Scholarly from Non-Scholarly Periodicals: A Checklist of Criteria.
Shows how to evaluate periodicals by looking at their format, intended audience, and appearance.
Searching Articles and Databases (accessible)
Select and search appropriate databases to discover useful articles
Try focused searching by looking in individual, subject-specific databases. The database list is browsable by title and subject area.
Recommended databases
- 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.
- 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.
- MLA International BibliographyThe premier scholarly bibliography covering languages, literatures, folklore, film and linguistics from all over the world. Online coverage back to 1926. Includes books, articles in books, and journal articles. Does not index book reviews.
- 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.
- Project MUSESearchable database that provides access to the full text of journals and ebooks published by university presses in the humanities, social sciences, and mathematics. Covers such fields as literature and criticism, history, the visual and performing arts, cultural studies, education, political science, gender studies, and others.
- Web of ScienceChoosing "All Databases" allows you to search an index of journal articles, conference proceedings, data sets, and other resources in the sciences, social sciences, arts, and humanities.
- Zoological RecordBibliographical references from more than 6,000 international journals, review annuals, monographs, meeting proceedings, books and reports, representing research in all major areas of zoology, including: behavior, ecology, evolution, genetics, habitat, nutrition, parasitology, reproduction, taxonomy, zoogeography.
- Performing Arts Periodicals DatabaseFormerly the International Index to the Performing Arts (IIPA) covers dance, film, television, drama, theater, stagecraft, musical theater, broadcast arts, circus performance, comedy, storytelling, opera, pantomime, puppetry, and magic. Full text from 1999 onward.