How to find Peer-Reviewed Articles

The foundation of academia--of all serious science--is the peer reviewed article. The idea is simple: come up with a good idea, and see if five other people who are experts in your field can find any problems with it. If they can't, then it gets published in a journal. Most research builds upon the ideas of others, so the bibliographies at the end of journal articles tend to be long and fairly comprehensive. The worst sin in academia is plagiarism, so people go out of their way to note exactly where they got their ideas from.

So what's the problem? Well, academic journals have a very limited audience, and they generally come out only four times a year. As a result, a year's subscription can cost between $300-$1000. Journal articles are also very long, so a single issue could have only four or five articles in it. It doesn't make sense for an academic journal to give its articles away for free.

It's easy enough to FIND journal articles--Google does a fairly good job of indexing them. However, Google's bots can go where you cannot. If you want access to the articles, you're looking at spending $30 just for a peek, and printing costs extra. So where can you go?

Step 1: WilsonSelectPlus (http://www.ref.oclc.org)
Username: 100-111-270
Password: bxxd.puxx

Step Two: Various Databases found in the Chicago Public Library ( http://www.chipublib.org/cplbooksmovies/research/database_atoz.php )

Select the appropriate database (see the pathfinder for suggestions)

Von Steuben's Library Card # is D055878165
Zip code is 60625

Click on the Advanced Search tab.

The following databases will be helpful :

• WilsonSelectPlus (Similar, but not the same as the one above)
• ProQuest Research Library
• Subject Specific Databases, such as Literary Reference Center

Step Three : Go Long with Google Scholar (http://scholar.google.com) and ArticleFirst:

Sometimes it's NOT online. If that's the case, what can you do? First, use Google Scholar to locate articles that might be useful. Then use Article First to find out if any local libraries carry that journal. Type the title of the article into ArticleFirst, and if it is indexed, click Libraries that own this item to see if there are any public universities nearby that have it. And then you head over there and look it up in print. Is it worth it? Less than 10% of all print resources have been put online. Sometimes you have to go long to get what you need.