ENGL 105, Academic Writing (Ceilidh Hart): Finding Journal Articles

The Library Find It is a good place to get started. Try a simple search below and use the limiters and filters to narrow your results to Academic Journals and/or Scholarly/Peer Reviewed Sources.

Depending on your topic focus, sometimes you have better success using a specific database. See the Research Databases: Best Bets box on this page.

See our in-depth guide:

Not all journals are created equal, and not all will be appropriate for every research need. These are the most common types of journals you are likely to encounter in your research, presented in order from most to least academic or scholarly:

• Scholarly Journals: reports of original research, theoretical, experimental or applied; many are refereed/peer-reviewed
• Trade/Professional Journals: current trends, news & events in a particular field; some are peer-reviewed
• Journals of Commentary or Opinion: commentary on political & social issues; often source of specific political viewpoint, e.g., conservative, liberal, or specific interest group
• Newspapers: current information, news stories; local & regional focus
• Popular Magazines: current events & news; primary source for popular culture

Not all journals are created equal, and not all will be appropriate for every research need. Here are some characteristics of scholarly journals:

• the authors are researchers or scholars - articles will typically include the author's institutional affiliation;
• the articles reflect an-depth analysis of topics or report original research (theoretical, experimental or applied);
• articles are often lengthy, and book reviews, if included, are substantial;
• the language used reflects the technical vocabulary of the discipline (i.e., jargon); and
• many are refereed or peer-reviewed.

For more information and additional characteristics, see Types of Periodicals.

Books are rarely peer-reviewed, which can make it more challenging to determine scholarly status. However, the following are common characteristics of scholarly books:

• the authors or editors are researchers or scholars (you might need to look inside the book for information about the author, or you can try a Google search);
• the publisher is often a university press (e.g., Oxford University Press, University of California Press) or an academic society (e.g., American Anthropological Association); and/or
• the language used reflects the technical vocabulary of the discipline (i.e., jargon).