Why Articles?
Articles appear in publications called magazines, journals, periodicals, and newspapers. Use articles for:
• most recent research on a topic
• coverage of very narrow topics
• coverage of current events
• contemporary accounts of past events and research
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Quick Search in Education & Psychology
Search several Education/Psychology databases simultaneously
Article Databases
Databases provide a systematic method of searching for articles, and other documents, on your topic. Some databases include full text of the documents they index but many do not. The top databases for psychology are:
- Psychology in ProQuest
Covers over 300 professional and scholarly periodicals related to psychology. Includes some full text and full image articles. Good coverage for late 1980's to present, with some earlier - PsycINFO The most comprehensive database for psychology research covers scholarly international literature in the psychological, social, behavioral, and health sciences. Includes articles in more than 2000 journals as well as book chapters and dissertations.
- ERIC Comprehensive database in Education, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education, indexes journal articles and specialized reports in educational fields back to 1960s. VPN required if off-campus and also using RefWorks.
- MEDLINE International coverage of over 3,800 journals in the fields of medicine, including psychiatry, public health, pharmacology, and clinical sciences. 1966 to present. VPN required if off-campus and also using RefWorks.
- HaPI: Health and Psychosocial Instruments Indexes articles with descriptions and analyses of assessment tools used in health and psychology, i.e., questionnaires, checklists, indexes, rating scales, tests, etc. VPN required if off-campus and also using RefWorks.
- Web of Science Covers the top journals in the sciences, social sciences and humanities. Can keyword search for topic but also offers unique 'cited reference' searching to trace trace research 'forward' by identifying newer articles citing an older work.
- Other Psychology databases For additional databases indexing topics relevant to psychology see this entire list.
Getting the Articles
The Libraries subscribe to over 24,000 journals, most in electronic format. There are a variety of ways to find out if the Libraries subscribe to the journals you need.
If you already have the citation to an article:
- Use MARQCAT. Search by Title and enter the title of the journal, NOT the title or author of the article.
If you are looking at citations from within a database:
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Use the FindIt@MU icon in the citation you are interested in. This will open another window and do one of two things
- Display a list of databases with links. This indicates the FindIt widget may have found a source for electronic copy of the article. Click on the link to determine if a full text option is located.
- Displays only a link to MARQCAT. Click the MARQCAT link to search the catalog. The journal may be available in print or fulltext through a source not searchable by the FindIt widget.
If you do not find the journal using FindIt@MU or MARQCAT, request the article through Interlibrary Loan. This can be done directly from the article citation within some databases.
Evaluating Articles
Use critical thinking skills when deciding whether an article is appropriate to use. Consider:
Purpose: Is the intent to inform, entertain, persuade or educate?
Objectivity: Are various sides or points-of-view represented?
Author: Does the author have expertise on the topic?
Date: Is the information current or timely for your topic?
Bibliography: Are the authors sources of information cited completely.
Types of Periodicals
Periodicals, journals, magazines fall into 'categories' determined by their overall purpose.
Popular: Written for general public; authors and editors usually not experts in subject field; purpose is to provide current, societal/cultural news and discussion.
Trade: Written for individuals in a specific career/job or with a specific interest/hobby. Authors are generally persons working in the field/hobby or journalists with specialized knowledge. Articles discuss current issues but are not reports of research.
Scholarly: Written for, and authored by, researchers, educators, students. Articles are reports of original research or other scholarly discussions.
Google Scholar
Broadly search the web for scholarly journal literature. Remember, Google Scholar cannot search inside many of the MU databases.
(search results open in a new window)
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