Skip to Main Content

ENGL 197: Controversies in Ethnic Literature (Rana, Winter 2025): Finding Articles

Using Article Databases

To find articles in scholarly journals, you need to search an index database. Here are the basic steps:

1. Decide which database to use.

2. There is no single database devoted to ethnic literature. Because the subject crosses many disciplines, you may be browsing through multiple databases in fields such as Feminist Studies, Black Studies, Sociology, Asian American Studies, and others. The databases listed at right 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."   Avoid adverbs, conjunctions, prepositions, and any other terms that are not considered essential to your topic. 

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. 

Recommended Databases for ENGL 197

Login to LibApps