Social Science Resources: Library Basics: Journals

The 2nd Floor of the Library is where our print journals live. They are in alphabetical order by title.

The primary databases useful for finding articles in the social sciences are linked in the box titled "More databases."

If you have a citation (from another article, a bibliography, etc.) and need to know if the Library has in print or online, check the A to Z list.

• Consider what type of information you need and where you might find it.
• Break your topic into key concepts and identify terms for each concept. Start with fewer words. Less yields more.
• Don't be too narrow in your search, especially initially.
• While it is possible to find sources on international or local topics, the strength of many of our academic databases is coverage of US national topics.
• Use Boolean connectors like AND, OR, and NOT to connect keywords. Many databases search the words as a phrase otherwise.
• In general, avoid using prepositions like "in," "of," and "on."
• Truncation characters such as an * (asterisk) can expand your search by retrieving various forms of a word, e.g., comput* retrieves computer, computers, computing, computation, etc.
• Look at the subject terms or descriptors that are used for articles that appear relevant. Try other searches using those terms.
• In the sciences and social sciences, when starting a journal article search on a topic, consider adding systematic review or meta-analysis, or literature review in your search.
• Consult a librarian or your faculty member for additional related terms.
• Think about which individuals or groups of people or organizations are associated with your topic. These might be additional terms to search.

More databases are available on social science-relatedl topics. The Library staff has made these subject-related compilations of use for social science research: