Skip to Main Content

Information Literacy for LEP Explorations Courses

This is an information literacy guide for students taking Explorations gen ed courses. Students will learn how to access, identify, evaluate, and use information accurately and ethically.

Finding Journal, Magazine and Newspaper Articles

To find journal or magazine articles you will need to search a library database. Not all information in the databases is freely available on the web. Besides, not all information on the web is accurate or current and it is not always clear where the information on the web originated or if it is unbiased or objective. The library has many different databases which have been reviewed and edited by experts in the field. These databases can be relied upon as authoritative sources. Some databases are subject-specific and some are multi-disciplinary. Some have historical information and some have current research. Most databases show you journal or magazine articles but some may have other types of information such as newspaper articles, books, book chapters and images. You need to find the most relevant database or databases for your topic.

On the left panel are links to some of the most popular databases. Try Academic Search Premier first.

Finding journal articles from the library home page
To find journal or magazine articles, on the library home page,  click on the down arrow next to Everything at SCSU, select Articles and e-Books from the menu and enter your search term in the search box.  See screenshot below which shows a search for "gender issues".

The results screen displays a number of options on the left panel as seen in the screenshot below. You can limit your search by Relevance, Availability, Resource Type, Subject, Creator, Date, Collection, Language, etc. You can select Full-text online to get everything that is available full-text or you may select "Peer-reviewed articles" to find refereed,scholarly articles or you can select "Articles" to find articles from magazines as well. Click on "Show More" under Resource Type to find newspaper articles.

Try First!

Academic Search Premier - Full Text

Other Useful Databases

Academic Search Premier - This multi-disciplinary database provides indexing, abstracts and much full text for academic journals, magazines, trade publications, and newspapers on every topic.

CQ Researcher  - Good source for current issue topics.

Lexis Nexis Academic Universe - Provides quick and easy access to business, legal, and news sources.

Main File IConn/Ebsco - Contains many full text articles from general reference books, magazines, journals, newspapers and newswires. 

Opposing Viewpoints - This is an excellent database for controversial topics and argumentative papers.

JSTOR  - Excellent source for full-text peer-reviewed journal articles; does not contain the most recent volumes/issues of journals.

Requesting articles through inter-library loan

If an article is not available full-text online or in print at Buley Library, you can request it through interlibrary loan. Enter your username and password to access the interlibrary loan forms. If you are a first time user of this service you will be prompted to fill out a form with your information. Once you do that select "Journal Articles" under New Request on the left hand side and fill out the details of your request. Then click submit. Most often the article will be emailed to you. If the article cannot be emailed it will be photocopied and mailed to you. You will be notified if a request cannot be fulfilled. 

There is no charge for interlibrary loan.