Databases and Resources
Finding Journal Articles
Often your professor will ask you to use scholarly articles, academic articles, or peer-reviewed articles. These are generally all the same thing. They are written by scholars who are experts in their fields and are usually tied to a college or university. They are great for:
- Credible and trustworthy information
- Recent findings and research topics in the field
- Research studies, tables, and data
- Bibliographies and reference lists.
Find Journal Articles about your topic:
-
PsycArticles (via EBSCOhost) This link opens in a new window
APA PsycArticles searches "over 50 top full-text psychology publications covering the disciplines of Human Physiology, Personality Psychology, Social Psychology, Educational Psychology, and more." The database includes all material from the American Psychological Association (APA) print journals and affiliated publications with the exception of advertisements and editorial board lists.
-
ERIC This link opens in a new window
Contains published and unpublished journal articles and reports in the education field, from the U.S. Department of Education. Advanced search is possible by using the advanced search tips provided here or by using the advanced search interface for ERIC and other databases provided by the OCLC FirstSearch tool here.
-
Business Source Complete (via EBSCOhost) This link opens in a new window
Leading scholarly business database with over 1,300 publications, including peer-reviewed journals. Covers all business disciplines, including marketing, management, accounting, finance, and economics. Also includes financial data, company profiles, industry reports, market research reports, SWOT analyses, and more.
-
Coronavirus Research Database This link opens in a new windowIncluding coverage of the COVID-19 outbreak, this database curates openly available content related to coronaviruses. It includes thousands of open-access articles from the world’s leading publishers as well as current research from pre-print repositories such as arXiv and will continue to grow and evolve as more is learned about the pandemic.
-
Academic Search Premier (via EBSCOhost) This link opens in a new window
Note: Our subscription will be changing from Academic Search Premier to Academic Search Elite January 2026
Provides searching of over 8,500 journals, including peer-reviewed, across a wide range of topics. coverage: 1975 to present
-
Health Source (via EBSCOhost) This link opens in a new windowContains 550 scholarly full-text journals with a focus on many medical disciplines, as well as 80 full-text publications on consumer health and 130 health reference books.
-
PubMed This link opens in a new windowFree database that contains more than 38 million citations for biomedical, health, and life sciences literature. Facilitates access to bibliographic information on original research articles, literature reviews, case reports, letters, editorials, commentaries, and other selected publications across three U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM) literature resources: MEDLINE, PubMed Central, and Bookshelf. Citations may include links to full text content from PubMed Central (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/) and publisher web sites.
-
National Institute of HealthThe National Institutes of Health (NIH), a part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is the nation’s medical research agency — making important discoveries that improve health and save lives.
Statistics & Online Resources
Are you researching a specific age group or locale? Find out more about the people by using statistical resources like the ones below.
-
Statista This link opens in a new window
One of the world's largest statistics portals with data from over 18,000 sources. Provides access to 1 million statistics. Also contains information on industries, countries, digital markets, and other topics, as well as infographics.
-
U.S. Census BureauThis resource provides a wealth of demographic information about people, geography, and businesses. Enter a state, city, county, or zip code into the Community Facts box at the top of the page and then take a look at some of the options in the left-hand column to find out about a community's population, age, education, income, and other data.
-
U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsThe Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) of the U.S. Department of Labor is the principal federal agency responsible for measuring labor market activity, working conditions, and price changes in the economy.
"Who Cares?"
Ask yourself who cares about the topic you are researching.
Google Search using [site:.org | .edu | .gov]
.org = non-profit organizations
.edu = education sites, sites tied to universities
.gov = government and governmental organizations
For example: If I put in the search [homeless site:.org] I will get results that show organizations that address homeless issues.
Examples:
- United Nations: https://www.un.org
- Clayman Institute for Gender Research: https://gender.stanford.edu/
- National Institute of Health: https://www.nih.gov/
Finding Books and Ebooks
Bowman Library has a large variety of books and ebooks that are chosen for their relevance to the courses offered. You can access ebooks directly from the library website whether your off or on campus. Books and ebooks are good for finding overviews and history of your topic. You don't need to read the whole book to get the information you need for your project; often one chapter of a scholarly book will cover the information you need.
Search the Bowman Library Catalog
Class Group Work
Shared Google Doc for group brainstorming. (Make a copy - you may need to sign in)
