Science, General & Popular: Article Search

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Why Articles?

Articles appear in 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

Search Strategies

Write down research questions for your topic and underline key concepts and keywords. Think of broader or narrower terms depending on what search results you retrieve from those concepts and keywords.

Think of synonyms and alternative terms to search and refer to a Thesaurus for more ideas.

Remember most databases will have a list of suggested subject terms. By choosing these you can narrow your search to those articles related to what you are searching for.

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 biology are:

Web of Science from Clarivate Analytics
Searches 12,000+ scholarly journals in the sciences, social sciences and arts and humanities. Cited Reference Search locates articles that have cited an older document. Limited full-text access.
Includes the Arts & Humanities Citation Index (1975-present); the Science Citation Index and the Social Science Citation Index (1900-present for both); and the Emerging Sources Citation Index (2005-present).
GreenFILE from EBSCO
Index of scholarly, general interest, and government sources regarding human effects on the environment.
Drawing on the connection between the environment and disciplines such as agriculture, education, law, health and technology, GreenFILE serves as an informative resource for anyone concerned about the issues facing our planet. The database contains nearly 300,000 records, full text for selected titles and searchable cited references for more than 200 titles as well.
Sciences in ProQuest from ProQuest
Index, abstracts, with some full-text of both popular and scholarly sources on science. 1986-present.

Academic Search Elite
Provides full text for over 2,000 journals covering the social sciences, humanities, general science, multi-cultural studies, education and much more. Coverage varies by publication. Some full-text PDFs from 1985 to present.
Other Science Databases
For additional databases indexing topics relevant to science see this entire list.

Evaluating Articles

Critical thinking skills should be used when deciding whether an article is appropriate to use. Consider:

♦ Type of Publication: Is it a popular magazine or newspaper, a trade journal, or a scholarly journal? (see below)
♦ 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.

Scholarly: Written for researchers, educators, students, authors are other professionals. Articles are reports of original research or other scholarly investigations/discussions.

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; the focus is on application.

Popular: Written for general public; authors and editors usually journalists--not experts in the subject field; purpose is to provide current, societal/cultural news and discussion.