Articles on Controversial and Current Social Issues

Jump to: Articles from scholarly journals / Other articles / Up-to-the-minute news

Articles from scholarly journals

What is a scholarly journal?

Scholarly journals have articles written by professionals in a field to present research and theory to other professionals. Scholarly articles usually are refereed or peer-reviewed--judged worthy of publication by a group of other experts--as part of the process of being accepted for publication.

How do you identify and find scholarly articles on your topic?

In most cases you will use an electronic database or index that the Oviatt Library subscribes to which specializes in listing the articles written by and for professionals in a specific scholarly discipline or a database that allows you to specify that you want to see only listings of articles from refereed/peer-reviewed journals.

• Some of the databases that allow you to search by subject and limit your results to refereed or peer-viewed sources:
  • Academic Search Elite (EBSCOHost)
  • General OneFile
  • OmniFile Full Text Mega (Wilson)
• Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center on Thomson Gale Databases allows you to search by subject and limit the content of your results to materials from scholarly journals, magazines, and other choices.
• Your exact topic will determine which of the hundreds of Oviatt Library databases and print indexes to choose for a specific research project, so be sure to take a look at what is available. Find Articles and Research Data provides a subject organization of article sources plus links to Databases A-Z (in the bar at the top of the page).
• Use How to Do Library & Internet Research for ideas on how to do research more effectively, how to cite sources, etc.
• Ask a reference librarian which databases and indexes would be best for a specific topic. Reference librarians also can teach you how to improve your search technique so that you can find the results you want more easily and quickly.

How to Locate Articles Online or in the Library reviews the process of how to find articles once you know a specific article you'd like to read.

Other articles from magazines and news sources

Articles about controversial issues often appear in popular magazines and newspapers (or appear on television/radio news). Just as there are databases and indexes that are particularly useful to find scholarly articles, there also are databases and indexes that are useful to identify relevant articles written for readers who are not experts in a specific field. Some of the most frequently used of these databases are listed on Information Sources: News + Current Events, including:

• Proquest Newspapers
• Lexis Nexis Academic
• Ethnic NewsWatch and Ethnic Newswatch: A History

Tip: Recent issues of the Los Angeles Times and the Daily News newspapers are available online via Proquest Newspapers or Lexis Nexis Academic. (Check the database for dates included online; Proquest currently includes a greater time span for the Los Angeles Times). Many other newspapers are also available through these sources, but these two are particularly important if you are researching a local problem or California perspectives on a topic.

• Historical newspapers: ProQuest Historical Newspapers Los Angeles Times and ProQuest Historical Newspapers New York Times that make many older years of those newspapers available online. (See Information Sources: News + Current Events for additional digitized historical newspapers). The library also owns, on microfilm, all issues of the Los Angeles Times, the Daily News, and a number of other newspapers. Many newspapers go back further in time on microfilm than in electronic format; microform also can be very useful because some online versions of newspapers do not include photographs, charts, and other graphic materials.

How to Locate Articles Online or in the Library reviews the process of how to find articles once you know a specific article you'd like to read.

Up-to-the-minute news sources

News on the Web lists news websites. These are particularly useful for very current, up-to-the-minute information and include television and radio news sources as well as online newspapers.

 

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Created and maintained by Mary M. Finley
Questions or comments: mary.finley@csun.edu
Links checked: 22 August 2008

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