Objective: Finding a Scholarly Research Article

I. Select your search terms

• State your research topic as a thesis statement or a question:
  the impact of peer pressure on adolescents
• Identify the separate concepts (independent and dependent variables, population, etc.) that make up your topic:
  peer pressure; adolescents
• Make a list of search terms for each concept.  Be sure to include synonyms, related terms, and terms that may be broader or narrower:
  peer pressure: peers, peer group, peer groups, peer influence, social influence
  adolescents: teens, teenagers, youth, high school students
  The Contempory Thesaurus of Search Terms and Synonyms - ask at Reference Desk
• Use the following thesauri to identify appropriate controlled vocabulary (official subject headings) for each concept:
  Thesaurus of Sociological Indexing Terms - Ask at Reference Desk
  Thesaurus of Psychological Index Terms - Ask at Reference Desk
  Thesaurus of ERIC Descriptors [Education] - Ask at Reference Desk
  Library of Congress Subject Headings - Ask at Reference Desk

II. Devise your search strategy

Based on your list(s) of search terms, devise your search strategy:

• use boolean operator OR; this tells the computer to search for all the terms at the same time:
  peer pressure or peer influence; adolescents or teenagers
• use boolean operator AND; this tells the computer to restrict retrieval to both concepts:
  peer pressure and adolescents
• use truncation (*) to broaden your search to include variants of a term:
  adolescen*: adolescent, adolescents, adolescence
• use parentheses to group terms combined using OR :
  (peer pressure or peer group* or peer influence*) and (adolescen* or teen* or youth*)

III. Conduct a search in an article database

An article database is a searchable database of references to magazine and journal articles. Some article databases also include the full-text of the article. Unfortunately, the major databases for Social Work do not include the full-text.

To find scholarly journal articles in Social Work, a great place to start is Social Work Abstracts. Other useful article databases are Social Services Abstracts, Sociological Abstracts and PsycINFO. Of these, only Social Work Abstracts and PsycINFO include full-text, but only for some articles.

Another good article database to use is Academic Search Premier. It contains thousands of full-text articles from hundreds of magazines and scholarly journals, including many in social work, sociology, psychology, and related disciplines. To limit your search to scholary journal articles in Academic Search Premier, click on the box next to Scholarly (Peer-Reviewed) Journals. You may also limit your search to articles available in full-text on the computer by clicking on the box next to Full Text.

IV. Locate the article

If the article is available in full-text in the article database you are using, download and/or print the article.

If the article is not available in full-text in the article database you are using, check the library's EJournals list to see if full-text for the journal containing the article is available in another article database. This list will also tell you if we subscribe to the journal in print format.

If the article is only available in print, do a Journal Alphabetical search in our Online Catalog to identify the call number for the print journal. Recent issues of print journals are shelved by call number in the Current Periodicals area on the Middle Level of the library at the south end. Earlier issues are shelved by call number in bound volumes on the Top Level of the library.

If the article is not available either online or in print, use ILLiad (our online Interlibrary Loan system) to request a copy of the article from another library. This usually takes 2 to 4 days.

V. Verify that the article is scholarly

Use the following criteria to determine if the article represents scholarly research:

• Does it include a Methods section that describes such things as the independent and dependent variables; the population studied; and the methods used?
• Does it include a Literature Review that discussed previous research on the topic?
• Does it include a Results section that provides detailed information on the results of the research, including tables, charts, etc.?
• Does it include a Discussion section that discusses the results of the research?
• Does it include an extensive Bibliography or list of References Cited?

You can also use the general criteria found on the library's Scholarly vs. Popular Articles guide to determine if the article is indeed scholarly. You should also verify this with your instructor.

Need Help?

• Visit the Reference Desk or call  626-6415 and speak to a reference librarian
• Send an email to Dr. Kotter: wkotter@weber.edu
• Online reference help via email: Ask-A-Librarian Service