WR 323 Writing as Critical Inquiry: Search for 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!
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Search for Known Article Title in the PSU Library Catalog
The PSU Library Catalog is a great place to search for articles in selected databases. Once you have found an article that you are interested in, check for the link, Online Access, as shown in the screenshot of the journal article citation. Select this link and then sign into the PSU Library catalog to access the article. Note that the article can be available in more than one database. If there is no Online Access link, there will be an Interlibrary Loan & Article Delivery to request the article.
Requesting Books & Articles
While the Portland State Library has a large collection of books, articles, and journals, we may not have a specific item you are looking for. In that case, you may be able to get it for you from another library.
- If you find an item in the catalog and our copy is not available you can Request from other libraries
Ways to Approach Searching for Articles
- PSU Library article databasesSelect databases by subject area, of if you know it already, by name.
To identify articles that you don't know exist, you will want to use a database. Databases can be general, covering a wide variety of subject areas, or specific covering only one discipline or group of disciplines. Library databases generally use Boolean logic and search the title, subject headings and abstract of an article. Some databases search the full text of the articles that are included.
- Subject Research Guides for PSU LibraryUse the research guides developed by the subject librarians to lead you to the best subject databases and teach you strategies that may be necessary for those particular databases.
- Google Scholar
This link opens in a new window
Google Scholar searches the academic, scholarly Web for peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, abstracts and articles. Searching Google Scholar from the Portland State University Library will identify full text articles available from PSU Library resources as well as open access articles from other universities and colleges.
Is it peer reviewed?
This 2-minute video shows you a few different ways to check whether an article is peer-reviewed or refereed.