GSU Library Research Guides: SCOM 3050: Research Methods: Finding Articles

What's a scholarly source?

Scholarly sources (journal articles and often book chapters):

Are written by scholars/experts in the field, for an audience of other scholars/experts
Include an abstract, a literature review, a discussion of research methods, and a bibliography
Are peer-reviewed by other scholars before publication

Many article databases have an Advanced Search that will give you an option to limit your search to peer-reviewed articles.

Many databases give you only a citation telling you where to find the article, not the article itself.

Click the Find It @ GSU button to open a window with links to the article you need.

If the article is available through another database, the Find It @ GSU button will take you to links to the article through the other database(s) that have it.
If the article isn't available through any of our databases, the Find It @ GSU button will take you to a link that says Request item through ILLiad. Clicking that link will get you started with placing an Interlibrary Loan request for the article (which will likely be available to you within 24 hours). (Click here to learn more about Interlibrary Loan)

Lost? Stuck? Too many options? Ask a Librarian for help!

Communication & Mass Media Complete
This is a good first stop for nearly any "new media"-related topic. Search articles from communication journals here.
APA PsycInfo
This is our main psychology database. It's useful if your topic covers how people react with new media on a personal level: relationships, perceptions and reactions.
MLA International Bibliography
If your topic has to do with rhetoric, language, or related topics, the MLA database may also have some useful sources.
Project Muse
Provides complete, full-text content in digital humanities and social science from over 120 publishers, Including scholarly journals from leading university presses and scholarly societies are indexed and peer-reviewed, and full-text access includes current content from over 400 titles

Don't Panic!

Try a few different things:

Try some different terms for your topic. "Online social networks" may be a useful synonym, for example.
Try some other databases! CMMC and PsycInfo are not the only possibilities.
If all else fails, try the Discover search on the library home page, or Academic Search Complete.

Contact Jill or the Research Support desk if you need help or advice.

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Subjects: Africana Studies, Communication, Criminal Justice, Economics, Journalism, Political Science, Public Management & Policy, Social Work, Speech Communication, Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies