Using Article Databases
Finding scholarly articles in article databases is a multi-step process:
1. Decide which database to use.
2. There is no single database devoted to climate change and the imagination. Because the subject crosses many disciplines, you may be browsing through multiple databases in fields such as literature, film & media studies, environmental science, art, gender studies, religion, and others. The databases listed on this page should give you a good start. You can also browse a list of the Library's databases organized by subject or alphabetically.
3. Always use the Advanced Search option.
4. Databases don't like full sentences! Build your search using a few words that best describe the main concepts of your topic. These are your "keywords." See the tab at left for more information.
5. Select whichever filters are appropriate but do not click "full text" as one of the filters because this will severely limit your results. See #6 below.
6. If the full text of an article is not available in the database itself, use the 
link. This will take you to the online article on another platform or, if we don't have access to the online version, it will offer you an option to order it through Interlibrary Loan (ILL).
7. Most article databases allow you to save, email, cite, download, or export citations or full articles.
What is a Peer-Reviewed Article?
Before an article is published in a scholarly, peer-reviewed journal, it is sent by the journal's editors to other scholars in the field (the author's "peers") to review for the quality of the scholarship, its relevance to the field, its appropriateness for the journal, the validity of its arguments, and its adherence to the editorial standards of the journal. The high standard of writing, content, and research set by peer reviewers results in high-quality scholarly articles on your subject, and this is why your professors want you to use these sources.
UC Library Search discovery platform will retrieve articles and books, but I strongly recommend that you use the Library's article databases to search for peer-reviewed articles on your topic rather than relying on Library Search. The article databases listed at the right will be particularly useful for your English 197 research.