LibGuides: Modern Languages & Literature: Find Articles

Databases

Databases are extremely useful tools for finding articles.

This page lists recommended databases for research in Modern Languages and Literatures.

Great Places to Start

MLA International Bibliography This link opens in a new window Peer-reviewed articles in literature, language, folklore, dramatic arts (film, radio, television, theater), linguistics, the history of publishing, and teaching in all these areas.
Linguistics & Language Behavior Abstracts This link opens in a new window Peer-reviewed articles in linguistics and its various sub-disciplines. It also includes summaries of monographs, recent books, technical reports, and more.
Project Muse This link opens in a new window Peer-reviewed articles and eBooks in the humanities and social sciences.
JSTOR This link opens in a new window Peer-reviewed articles across the humanities, social sciences, and sciences, as well as select ebooks and other materials.

Also Helpful

Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window A great starting place for any research topic. Includes a wealth of peer-reviewed and non-scholarly articles on a wide range of topics and disciplinary areas.
Anthrosource This link opens in a new window Peer-reviewed articles from the American Anthropological Association's journals.
ERIC This link opens in a new window
The Educational Resource Information Center includes peer-reviewed articles, reports, conference papers, curriculum and teaching guides, and non-scholarly articles focused on education, including early childhood to higher education, and throughout the lifespan. Includes research on cognitive psychology.
ERIC is also available via Proquest, OCLC FirstSearch, and at ERIC website with access to full text documents from 1993-present. ERIC consists of two files:
- CIJE - Current Index to Journals in Education which indexes over 750 professional journals - all are assigned ERIC numbers beginning with an EJ (Eric journal).
- RIE - Resources in Education which indexes a variety of documents; all are assigned ERIC numbers beginning with an ED (Eric document). OCLC provides access to online full-text ED records via subscription links to EDRS Not all ED documents are available online. Inclusion depends on the authors original copyright agreement with EDRS. Typically 80% of ED documents permit online full-text usage. HINT: on OCLC look for the EDRS link at the bottom of the detailed record.
A variety of help options are available:
PsycInfo This link opens in a new window The core psychology database, with peer-reviewed and non-scholarly articles on all aspects of human psychology.  
Sociological Abstracts This link opens in a new window Peer-reviewed articles and working papers on all aspects of sociology, including related fields such as demographics, criminology, policy studies and family studies. Includes citations and abstracts for dissertations, papers, books and book chapters.
Worldwide Political Science Abstracts This link opens in a new window Peer-reviewed and non-scholarly articles in political science, international relations, law, and public administration/policy.

Search Help

Search Strategies for ML_L_Majors

Searching a Database: Tips

There are usually five things you can do with a database:

Search using keywords
Refine results (e.g., relevance, date, peer-review, subject, full-text only, etc)
Access a source (cilck PDF or "find it" links)
Email yourself the source full-text and/or citation
Cite a source (be sure to double check citation generators!)

More search tricks:

Use Boolean Operators (and, or, not) to separate keywords
Use quotation marks (" ") to search for phrases, such as "critical reading" or "into the woods"
Use an asterisk (*) to search all variations of a word root, such as child* for child, children, and childrens
Use an exclamation mark (!) as a wildcard, such as metamorphos!s for metamophosis and metamorphoses

Accessing an Article

If you do not see a PDF link, you may see a "find it" button. This means this database does not have the PDF full-text, but another might!

When you click "find it", a new tab will open and you will see one of two things:

1. "Full text is available at: [Database]" - click the database link (e.g., EBSCO Academic Search Complete) to find the full-text

2. "No full text available." If you see this, you can "request this article" through interlibrary loan:

Interlibrary Loan

If Cal State LA does not have an article or book chapter or if you are unable to access the physical copy, you can request an electronic copy through interlibrary loan!

The iLLiad sign-on screen is pictured below. First-time users will need to register.

Once you are signed in, you may see an auto-populated form ready to submit (if you came to iLLiad from a "request this article" link). Otherwise, you need to fill out a form to submit a "New Request"

You may request up to 2 book chapters per book (due to copyright) and up to 2 articles per journal volume.
There is no limit on total requests.
Complete one form per chapter or article.

Interlibrary Loan Request (iLLiad) Video Tutorial

What is Google Scholar?

GoogleScholar searches the entire web for scholarly materials.

Downsides:

Very limited search customization and filtering.
There is no way to refine to peer-reviewed articles.
It will list things by mere popularity, including unpublished dissertations and reports.
This means you must do MORE WORK to determine what type of source you're looking at and if it's useful!

Upsides:

You can easily search for an article by title.
Google Scholar can recognize you as a Cal State LA student so you are linked to library materials (see below)

Add Cal State LA to Google Scholar

If Google Scholar knows you are a Cal State LA student, you will see "Find it @ Cal State LA" links, pictured below.

Add Cal State LA to your institutions: