ENGL 102: Gietzen, S. (Fall 2024): Find articles

What is Appropriate?

You need several appropriate, reliable articles about your topic. Since you are writing a college level paper, your sources should be written for an audience of educated readers. This means you should be using either

• ACADEMIC JOURNALS

  • These are written by authors considered to be experts in their fields. Often, the authors are researchers and the articles describe the outcomes of their research.  Articles include extensive works cited lists. The authors are likely to be associated with a university or other institution. The authors are not paid by the journals where their articles appear.  The articles are sometimes 'peer-reviewed' by a panel of other experts in the field prior to acceptance and publication. 

• HIGHER LEVEL GENERAL INTEREST MAGAZINES OR NEWSPAPERS

  • These are written by professional journalists. The journalists take a serious tone and while they may not include a works cited list, they make it clear where they have gathered statistics and other information for the article. These should be feature articles--not brief reports or editorials.  Articles in CQ researcher, and feature articles in the New York Times, the Economist, and the Nation are good examples of this type of writing.

What is Reliable?   

For something to be reliable, we need to know that the author has expertise because of her education, training or experience. If we don't know anything about the author, then we need to rely on the reputation of the publisher:

• Is the journal academic or scholarly? If so, it is considered to be reliable. 
• If it is a general, mass media publication, does it have a reputation for accuracy and fairness? 

Do you have to research every author or publisher? No, not if you use the library's databases to find your articles. Our databases include only reliable sources--although some are considered to be of better quality than others. Your instructor or the librarians can help you with the decision.

Article Databases

The Library has some print journals, magazines, and newspapers but most are stored electronically in research databases. The databases listed below cover a number of subjects and are good starting points for finding articles for your research. 

Need More Help Options?

Consider the linked list below

Why Use Articles?

• You can get more specific information in articles from periodicals (magazines, journals, and newspapers).
• Journal articles are often more current than books.
• The Library’s databases contain thousands of articles from newspapers, magazines, trade journals, and scholarly journals. 
• You often cannot access the full text of most of these articles through Google (because the publishers like to be paid!)

Tip For Reading Articles:

If the article has an abstract or summary, read the abstract to learn what the article is about. If it looks like it might be useful for your research, then read the whole article.

Where Are Articles in the TCC Library?

Your TCC Library has some journals, magazines, and newspapers in print, but you have access to so many more articles in periodicals that are stored electronically in research databases. The databases on this page are good starting points for finding articles on this topic.

Image source:  "Magazines and reading journals" by jackmac34 is in the Public Domain, CC0

Sometimes it is difficult to find both sides of an argument. Here are some tips to use when you are searching databases. Try adding (usually one at a time, or separated by "OR") the words or phrases listed below. Some will be more useful than others depending on your topic. Try to imagine how authors might discuss the concept you are researching.

Here's an example of some searches you might use in a database if you were having trouble finding articles against nuclear power:
  
nuclear power AND opposition

nuclear power AND negative effects

nuclear power AND dangers