Finding Articles

After you have completed this Finding Articles Module you will:

• Understand what a research database is and when to use one
• Understand the difference between scholarly and popular articles
• Have learned time-saving and precision-improving search techniques
• Know how to use Business Search Premier--a database you may use for EAS 101 (but remember, this database will also serve your research needs for other classes too!)

To find articles you need to use an article database, also called a research database, or just database. Some articles are available on the web, but when you use a database, you are systematically covering your topic. Databases provide access by subject, date, author, and many other categories that a web search cannot. You will save time and effort, and find more precisely what you need, by using a database to find articles.

Information comes in many formats, such as books, newspaper articles, journal articles, web pages and videos. What's so special about a journal article? Journal articles typically:

• Provide current information written by an expert in the field
  • Published quicker than a book
• Provide information about a specific aspect of a topic
  • Not as much information as a book
• Bring information up to date
  • Researchers build on previously published work
• Report results of an experiment/observation
  • This is what I did, how and my results
• Add to the body of scientific knowledge

Some articles are written by experts for other experts, and some articles are written by journalists to inform non-experts. Your research may require that you use scholarly as well as popular articles. How do you tell the difference? Click on the questions below to explore the differences.

Learn about the Tools that you can use.