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.

Watch this video to learn how to identify scholarly journal articles.

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Never pay for an article or book or access to resources.

In most cases (except for textbooks), the Cornell Library has online journals, newspapers, magazines, ebooks and print books, or can get them for you at no charge to you! Access Anywhere can help you find it at Cornell, or Ask a Librarian.

Recommended Databases

Databases identify and locate articles published in magazines, journals and newspapers. Many databases also index essays, book chapters and monographs. Some databases provide full-text coverage of journals, but if not, use the Get it! Cornell link 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).