At SMC, finding a journal article is easy. It's also easy to determine if you have a "scholarly article."
1. Go to the library's homepage.
2. Either use One Search and limit the search to academic articles OR click on "Articles" at the top. Then click on Databases A-Z.
3. On the right, you'll see popular databases listed. These are great for general research! Search them pretty much like you do when you Google.
4. If you have a specific subject, like Accounting, look for the menu on the top left called "All Subjects." Drop that down and click on your subject.
5. Once you are searching a database, you'll find a lot of different types of articles. To make sure you have a scholarly or academic article check to see if yours has:
a. an abstract--Most scholarly articles have a short summary or abstract at the start
b. Sources used and cited in the paper. This would be all those sets of parentheses like this: (Williams 2002). It could be linked numbers or other citation styles.
c. Most scholarly articles are at least five pages long. If your article is shorter, it might not be a full article or it might be something like an encyclopedia entry.
d. Check to see if there is a list of sources at the end. This list would name the author and title of each source used in the article. If this is missing, you probably do not have a scholarly article.
e. Keep in mind that most professors do not allow you to use a book review, editorial, or plot summary as a source. Always email your professor to be sure or stop by to show them your source.
6. Finally, the "cite" button should be somewhere on the page. Click to copy/paste the type of citation required by your professor. While you will need to clean it up a bit to exactly match MLA or APA format, it will save you a bit of work.
If you are still unsure, contact the librarians or your professor. We are here to help!
On the library homepage, use the One Search box. Find print or online books.
Keep in mind that you may be able to just use one chapter of the book for your research paper. Also, some instructors want materials published more recently rather than a decade or more ago.
If you are not using our library to search for a book, be wary of self-published books. They may or may not have good information.
Finding a good news article can be easy!
Try:
One Search on our library's homepage. On the left, you'll see "newspaper articles." Limit the search to those.
Opposing Viewpoints. This database will return all kinds of sources on a particular topic. Click on "news" to see those.
Google: news + your topic.
Some instructors want a news article to be fairly recent. Always check with your professor.