HEP Re-entry Library Guide for Student Research: 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.

Search for Scholarly Articles

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

Communication Source This link opens in a new window
Provides abstracts and indexing as well as full-text content from global titles pertaining to many fields of communication studies.
EconLit
Provides citations and abstracts of international journals, books, dissertations, and working papers on economics.
Education Source
Includes citations and full text articles from education research journals, books, and conference papers.
JSTOR
Contains full text articles from major research journals in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences. Coverage of most journals starts from the beginning of a journal's publication and typically excludes the most recent three to five years.
ProjectMuse
Indexes citations for books and articles as wells as full text articles and ebooks from scholarly presses.

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.