Online Databases for Journal Articles - High Tech High - Spring 2018 - LibGuides at University of California San Diego

With the exception of Google Scholar and PubMed, all of these databases (and most of the journal articles they index) are licensed by UC San Diego Library. As visitors, you can use them in the library, but you will not be able to access these off-campus.

Finding Full Text

If the article isn't available full-text within the database you're using, click on the orange UC-eLinks button to see if we have the article online elsewhere, usually at the journal publisher's website.

If we have the article online, 1) the article will open immediately, or 2) you'll get a list of options with Get It Online and a link to get to the article

Selecting Databases

Databases are online tools that help you search for articles on a particular topic.
Article databases are organized by broad subject areas (e.g. biology, art, political science, etc.), and some are interdisciplinary databases or ones that search across multiple disciplines. The database you use depends on the topic or subject you have chosen and the type of information you need to access.

How to pick a database: The Library has access to hundreds of databases -- organized by broad subject areas. Try browsing our Databases A-Z list, or see our list of Subject Guides that recommend appropriate databases by subject.

Starting with an interdisciplinary database: Not sure where to start? Maybe your topic spans a couple of disciplines (e.g., Bioengineering)? Some suggested databases to start with are:

Academic Search Complete
Multidisciplinary database that indexes 12,000+ journals and magazines, with 8,000+ available here in full text. Academic Search Complete indexes scholarly and popular sources, but you can easily limit your results to just the scholarly journal articles.
Web of Science
Indexes 10,000+ journals in all subjects. There's no full-text like in Academic Search Complete, but you can use the orange UC-eLinks button to link out to the article if we have it.
JSTOR
JSTOR is a full-text searchable database of scholarly journals and books in all subjects (strongest in social sciences and humanities). HOWEVER, for most of the journals the most recent 3-5 years are not included.
Google Scholar
This is essentially Google for finding scholarly works: mostly journal articles, books, and dissertations. It searches the full text, so you might want to use the advanced search to limit your searching to article titles, for example. See Search Strategies for more information about searching Google Scholar.
- The articles themselves are often paywalled, but in the library you should be able to get them if we've licensed those journals. Off-campus, you can use the Unpaywall app too see if there's a free, legally deposited copy available.

More Databases to Try

These databases are more subject-specific. They index scholarly journals, and most cover other sources like books.

PsycINFO
Psychology and related social, behavioral, and health sciences.
Sociological Abstracts
Sociology, social work, and related social sciences.
PubMed
Biomedical and related health sciences. PubMed is available to the public as well, and you can filter results to see free articles.
ERIC
Education
GenderWatch
Gender, GLBT, family, and women's studies.
Alt-Presswatch
Full text database of newspapers, magazines and journals of the alternative and independent press.
Ethnic Newswatch
Ethnicities and ethnic studies.

High Tech High - Spring 2018: Online Databases for Journal Articles

Finding Full Text

Selecting Databases

More Databases to Try