Challenge Library Guide: Scholarly Articles

Search the PSU Library Catalog for Scholarly Articles

Start your search for scholarly articles at the PSU Library catalog. Type your keywords into the search box on the Library homepage and run the search. Limit your search results by selecting Peer Reviewed Journals under Availability. Limit your search to the last five to ten years to review the most current research on your topic. Pertinent articles may include links to Similar Articles!

Be sure to Sign In in order to add relevant articles to My Favorites for easy access.

Multidisciplinary Database

Academic Search Premier
Provides selected full text, scholarly, and peer reviewed articles in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences.

Spanish 300

America: History and Life
Includes citations of articles and books on the history and culture of the United States, Mexico, and Canada.
Fuente Academica
Covers Spanish language scholarly, academic journals. Offers full text, multidisciplinary content.
Hispanic Life in America
Provides access to the experience and impact of Hispanic Americans as recorded by the news media from 1704-current.
Historical Abstracts
Find citations to academic articles on world history (except the U.S. and Canada), from the 15th century to the present.
MLA International Bibliography
Indexes citations to journal articles, dissertations, and books about world literature, literary criticism, language, linguistics, and folklore from 1921 to the present.

Literature & Languages Database

MLA International Bibliography
Indexes citations to journal articles, dissertations, and books about world literature, literary criticism, language, linguistics, and folklore from 1921 to the present.

History Databases

America: History and Life
Includes citations of articles and books on the history and culture of the United States, Mexico, and Canada.
Historical Abstracts
Find citations to academic articles on world history (except the U.S. and Canada), from the 15th century to the present.
International Medieval Bibliography
Indexes citations to journal articles and book chapters about the Middle Ages covering Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa from 300 to 1500.
ITER: Gateway to the Middle Ages and Renaissance
The online bibliography covers literature pertaining to the Middle Ages and Renaissance (400-1700).
L'Annee Philologique
The online database of the bibliography published by the Société Internationale de Bibliographie Classique, L'Annee Philologique indexes scholarly works relating to all aspects of ancient Greek and Roman civilizations.

Public Health Databases

Alt-HealthWatch
Contains full text articles and other publications covering topics in complementary and alternative medicine (CAM).
Health Source: Nursing/Academic edition
Presents article citations and full text articles from health and medicine journals.

Geology Databases

Environment Complete
Provides full text journals, books, and reference works that cover agriculture, ecosystem ecology, energy, renewable energy sources, natural resources, marine and freshwater science, geography, pollution and waste management, environmental technology, environmental law, public policy, social impacts along with urban planning.
GeoRef
Offers citations and abstracts about the earth sciences including palaeontology.

Urban Studies Database

Urban Studies Abstracts
Provides indexing and abstracts for urban affairs, community development, and urban history.

Finding Recent Articles in the Library Catalog Video

This video demonstrates how to find recent newspaper and peer reviewed articles in the Portland State University Library Catalog.

Google Scholar Video

This video describes how to quickly access a full text article from a citation using Google Scholar.

Is it Peer Reviewed?: The Video

This video shows you different ways to check whether an article is peer-reviewed.

Three Paths to Scholarly Articles

You can use any or all of the tools below to search for articles.

	Library Catalog: search box on the library homepage	Specific Subject Database	Google Scholar: search from the PSU Library website
Strengths	Covers articles from hundreds of scholarly journals, and newspapers; Searches over 400 databases at once, so article can be available in more than one database; Can see immediately whether one article is available in full text, or if not, request via Interlibrary Loan directly; For retrieval options anytime, anywhere, you need to sign in with your Odin account.	Has a more focused scope like economics or history; Better interface with more search options/limiters and discipline-specific subject keywords; You just need to sign in with your Odin account to access anytime, anywhere.	Journals from a wide range of subjects, including ones that are not indexed in the catalog; The Google search engine; Includes "Cited by" for articles; Access to open access articles with links.
Weaknesses	You need to know to lock the filters in order to change your keywords; Not all PSU full text journals are indexed here; May produce too many results; Must sign in first to see the full results and request options.	Missing journals in subject from other databases; May need to use Find it @ PSU to check for full text status; May have to order from Interlibrary loan through the Library website.	Lack of sophisticated search options/limiters May produce too many results; Must use Find it @ PSU to locate full text.
Best For	If you already have a citation (or at least the title of the article); if you are exploring a topic (especially an interdisciplinary one) and not sure where to start or what keyword(s) to use.	If you need to do subject-specific or advanced searches using various options/limiters.	If you already have a citation (or at least the title of the article); If you are exploring a topic ( an interdisciplinary one) and not sure where to start or what keyword(s) to use.