Finding Articles

Let's say your professor has asked you to find articles about a topic - maybe ethical issues in management situations.  How do you start?

Let's break the task into two components:

1. Where to find articles, and
2. How to build your search

Where to find articles

Articles are published in newspapers, magazines, and journals.  The efficient way to locate articles is to use a database to identify which specific journals have the information you seek. 

• Some databases include articles and other information on all topics. Examples include Academic Search Premier, Academic OneFile, and Christian Periodicals Index.
• Other databases include articles and other information on specific topics. Examples include ERIC (Education), SocINDEX (Sociology), and Business Source Premier.

The Article Databases by Subject page will help you identify which databases include information on all topics, and which ones specialize in a specific topic.

How to build your search

Start with your research question.  In our example, a research question might be What are key ethical issues in corporate management? 

From here, it is helpful to have in mind a few keywords or concepts to use in your search.  It is also good to brainstorm some words that mean the same as your keywords or are a little broader or narrower.  Using these alternatives will help you revise your search if you are unsatisfied with your results the first time you try a search.

For instance:

While you can type a phrase such as ethical issues in human resources management into some search engines and get results, most searches in article databases work best if you pull out of your phrase the important words and connect them together with the words and or or. 

For instance:

(ethics or ethical or integrity) and human resources

Some tips:

• and means that both terms must be present for that item to be found in a search
• or means that any of the terms must be present for that item to be found.  "Or is more."
• If your topic has more than one aspect to it, start by creating a search that includes each of those aspects.  If you do not find enough information, redo your search but leave out an aspect or use a different term to represent it.
• Many databases allow you to limit your search to "scholarly" or "peer reviewed" articles.  Look for a check box on the page where you type your search. 
• Some databases separate results by type of source, so you may want to look for a tab that indicates "Academic journals."
• If some of the results are what you wanted, look at the information for those items and see if there are terms you can use in a revision of your search that will give you more relevant results. 
• Usually there is a group of terms indicated as "subjects" that describe the information in the article.  Specifying in your search that you want to find specific terms in the "subject" may help you efficiently find relevant articles.
• A well-focused search has around 50 or fewer items in the results list.
• Ask for help if you get stuck!  Use the chat box on the library's web pages, use the Ask-a-librarian link in the top right corner of some databases, or e-mail us at library@swu.edu.

Some definitions:

Articles:  research reports, essays, literature reviews, or other relatively short informative publication, usually found in magazines, journals, or newspapers.  Encyclopedias contain articles, but we consider those to be reference sources.

Magazines: published for the general audience on a variety of topics by a company that seeks to make a profit.  You find these in the checkout line at grocery stores and in the waiting room at doctors' offices, in addition to the library and online databases.  While they may emphasize a particular topic (cars, women's interests, wildlife, sports, etc.), their purpose is to entertain and inform at a consumer level.  They contain glossy paper, color photos, and a variety of advertisements for consumer goods.  The authors of the articles typically are on the staff of the publication or are freelance writers hired for their expertise.  The editor checks spelling and grammar, and a fact-checker may ensure accuracy.

Journals: published for the specialist professional, scholar, or researcher often by a nonprofit professional association.  You find these on doctor's desks and in briefcases of researchers, in addition to the library and online databases.  These usually emphasize a specialized topic (research in mathematics education, methods for teaching music, reviews of books written about history), and their purpose is to communicate with other professionals, scholars, and researchers about developments in their particular field of interest.  They contain plain paper; few color photos; several charts, graphs, or tables; footnotes or endnotes, and works cited; and any advertisements tend to be for publications, conferences, or products relevant to that field.  The authors of the articles typically are scholars, researchers, or professionals who are not paid for their contributions to the publication.  The editor finds others who are experts in the field and sends the contributed paper or article to these peers for them to review and comment on the quality of the contents.  This feature of peer review is a significant difference between journals and magazines.

Database: computerized storage of information.  Article databases contain information for each article published in the newspapers, magazines, journals, and other publications of interest to that database publisher.  This information includes author and title of article, title of publication, date and other publication details, subject headings, and often, and abstract, or summary, of the article.