Black Studies: Articles in Databases

An overview of resources for researching Black Studies, including the African Diaspora and African American Studies

Finding Articles

The library databases listed here are good starting points to find articles on a range of topics in Black Studies. Try combining two different keywords in a search, as in these examples:

black panthers and women
slavery and religion
african americans and civil rights

Black Studies Center
Provides access to scholarly articles, essays, historic newspapers, and reference works including The Schomburg Studies on the Black Experience, Index to Black Periodicals Full Text, Black Literature Index, and the Chicago Defender historical newspaper from 1912-1975.
Ethnic Newswatch
Includes current newspapers, magazines, newsletters, and community publications of the ethnic, minority, and native presses. Includes scholarly journals on ethnicities and ethnic studies. Provides full text in English and Spanish.
African Studies Abstracts Online
Publishes quarterly bibliography listing edited works and articles from African studies journals and journals from Africa.
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.
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.
Humanities and Social Sciences Index Retrospective (H.W. Wilson)
Indexes citations to articles from scholarly social science and humanities journals from 1907 to 1984.
Black Life in America
Provides historical newspaper and other primary source coverage of Black Life in America as recorded by the news media.

Finding peer reviewed articles

Finding Peer Reviewed Articles

A peer reviewed article is reviewed by experts or scholars in the field who judge the article for quality and new contributions of knowledge to the discipline. The best place to search for peer reviewed articles is in the PSU Library catalog or Databases & Articles.

Limit Your Search to Peer Reviewed Sources

Look for a checkbox that limits the search to peer reviewed journals or articles. This image shows where to limit a search to peer reviewed journals in the PSU Library catalog.

You can also limit a search to peer reviewed journals using a subject-specific database. This image shows how to limit search results in MLA International Bibliography, a key database for English literature.

Find Out More About the Journal

Search for the journal title in Ulrichs International Periodicals Directory. If you see this referee icon then the journal is peer reviewed, and you can select the journal title for more information. Also, search for the journal website, then look for an editorial policy page that will tell you if the journal is peer reviewed.

Watch this video, Is it Peer Reviewed?, to learn how to determine if an article is from a peer reviewed journal.