In This Guide:

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

Evaluating Articles

Evaluate articles by:

Purpose: Is the purpose 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 sources of information cited completely and accurately?

Physics: Article Search

Article Databases

arXiv.org from Cornell University Library
An electronic archive of research articles in physics, mathematics, non-linear science, computer science, quantitative biology and statistics.
Dissertations and Theses Global from ProQuest
Searches doctoral dissertations and master's theses. Extensive North American coverage, lesser European coverage. Full-text availability varies by author's permission.
IEEE/IEE Xplore (Electronic Library) from IEEE
Index and full text of IEEE journals, magazines, and conference proceedings. 1872-present.
INSPIRE - High Energy Physics
The next-generation High Energy Physics (HEP) information system, replacing the predecessor SPIRES. A collaboration between CERN, DESY, Fermilab and SLAC, INSPIRE offers enhanced search capabilities.

Historical Note: In 1991, SPIRES (predecessor to INSPIRE) became the first web-site in North America.
National Technical Reports Library – NTIS from U.S. Dept of Commerce Technology Administration
Federally funded technology research reports freely available on the public access NTRL website. The NTRL is open to all users for search and discovery.
SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System from Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory
Index of documents from four databases related to astronomy, astrophysics, and physics. Includes abstracts of documents.

Databases are: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Instrumentation, Physics and Geophysics, and the arXiv.org preprints in Astronomy.
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).

More Databases
See the full list of Physics databases on the Libraries' web site.