Finding Articles
Use the yellow UC-eLinks 
button to find the online full text or print articles when the article isn't automatically available full text in the database.
Databases marked with a blue lock 
must be accessed from either on the UC San Diego campus network or else via Remote Access.
Put some thought into choosing your search terms and consider synonyms or alternative terms. AND, OR, and NOT can be used to combine or exclude search terms. Check the subject terms listed on your results for additional words to search.
For some topics, you may want to repeat your search in additional databases.
Most databases have a help link in the upper right-hand corner. The help screens will usually explain how to enter in keywords for the best search results.
Take advantage of additional database features such as citation formatting and limiting to academic journals.
Is it scholarly?
A quick checklist:
1. Where did you find the source? Did you use a scholarly database? The Library catalog (Roger)?
2. Who's responsible for the work? Is it published by a university press or another known scholarly publisher? What are the author's credentials? Is the author a professor or other known academic or scholar?
3. Does it look like a scholarly work? Does it have footnotes and/or endnotes and/or a bibliography? What kinds of sources it it citing? Where did the author get their information? What research methodology are they using?
English-language Research Tools
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Historical AbstractsIndexes articles from 1954-present. International database for research on history of all regions (except the U.S. and Canada) from 1450 to the current decade.
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Bibliography of Asian StudiesIndexes articles from 1971-present. Lists Western-language books, book chapters and journal articles on all parts of Asia except the countries of Western Asia (Middle East).
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Bibliography of Performing Arts in the East (in Western Languages)A bibliography of Western-language books, articles, theses, and some unpublished materials about live Eastern theater, dance, drama, puppetry, and masks, and of film, martial arts, and music when they are related to theater or dance. No full text.
Additional Social Sciences Research Tools
Additionally, depending on your specific area of research, you may want to run searches in these tools for related disciplines or multidisciplinary areas.
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Academic Search CompleteMultidisciplinary database with 17,800+ journals and magazines, of which 16,000+ are peer-reviewed and 8,750+ are full-text. Also included are books, conference papers and proceedings, government documents, newspapers, video content, and more. Coverage begins in 1887, with material in English, Spanish, German, French, Italian and Portuguese.
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Alt-PressWatchFull text database of newspapers, magazines and journals of the alternative and independent press. Provides a valuable new source of coverage, viewpoints and perspectives to complement and challenge the coverage of the mainstream media.
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Alternative Press IndexCitations to articles in roughly 381 alternative, radical, and left publications in North America. which report and analyze the practices and theories of cultural, economic, political, and social change
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Alternative Press Index ArchiveCitations to articles alternative, radical, and left publications in North America which report and analyze the practices and theories of cultural, economic, political, and social change
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America: History and Life1895-present. International database for research on all periods of U.S. and Canadian history, including very recent years. Includes abstracts of journal articles and listings of books and dissertations. Over 1,800 journals are indexed.
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CIAO: Columbia International Affairs OnlineFull text of working papers, conference proceedings, policy briefs, economic indicators, and other resources in international affairs.
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EconLitAbstracts journal articles, books, dissertations, and working papers in economics. New records added monthly. Produced by American Economic Association.
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Environment CompleteOffers deep coverage in applicable areas of agriculture, ecosystem ecology, energy, renewable energy sources, natural resources, marine & freshwater science, geography, pollution & waste management, environmental technology, environmental law, public policy, social impacts, urban planning, and more. It contains more than 2.5 million records from more than 2,350 domestic and international titles dating back to 1888. Formerly Environment Index.
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Historical Abstracts1863-present. International database for research on history of all regions (except the U.S. and Canada) from 1450 to the current decade. Content includes
indexing of historical articles from more than 2,300 journals in over 40 languages. -
Humanities and Social Sciences Index Retrospective: 1907-1984Indexes a wide range of important journals in all areas of the humanities and social sciences as far back as 1907 up to 1984. Use the UC-eLinks button to find full text, print, and/or request the item from another library.
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Index to Current Urban Documents Online (1995)-Index and search engine providing full-text access to documents from local governments, civic organizations, and planning agencies from 500 cities in the United States and Canada.
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JSTORSearch by subject or browse 2,600+ full-text titles, predominantly scholarly journals and books in social sciences, history, humanities, and science and mathematics, to their earliest issues. Many titles extend as far back as late 19th or early 20th centuries; most recent 3-5 years often not included. JSTOR provides access to more than 12 million academic journal articles, books, and primary sources in 75 disciplines.
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LabordocLabordoc, the ILO Library's database, contains references and full text access to the world's literature on the world of work.
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Left IndexAccess to the diversity of literature on the left, with a primary emphasis on politically and culturally engaged scholarship inside and outside the academy and a secondary emphasis on significant but little known sources of news and ideas.
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Nexis UniNexis Uni contains thousands of full-text sources including newspapers, wires, transcripts, newsletters, magazines, trade journals; also industry news, company information, law reviews, court decisions, statutes. Coverage dates vary. International and U.S. sources. (Previously called Lexis Nexis Academic).
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PAIS ArchiveLists articles, books, and government publications on issues of public policy, including politics, government, economy, marine policy, law.
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PAIS International (Public Affairs Information Service)1972-present. Lists print and electronic articles, books, and government publications on issues of public policy, including politics, government, economy, marine policy, law.
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Philosopher's IndexThe premiere bibliographic database covering worldwide research in all subject areas of philosophy. It contains works on philosophy from both philosophy and interdisciplinary sources. There are author-written abstracts for most records. The global database contains more than 680,000 records with source publications from 139 countries in 37 languages. The primary languages are English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish. Primary coverage spans from 1940 to present with additional records dating back to 1893.
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Sociological Abstracts1963-present. Abstracts journal articles, monographs, dissertations, conference proceedings, other research covering sociology, social work, and related social sciences. Also includes selected web resources.
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UNBISnet: United Nations Bibliographic Information System on the InternetUNBIS is the primary bibliographic database of the United Nations. Established in 1979, it offers access to documents of the United Nations and to non-UN publications acquired by the Dag Hammarskj?ld Library in New York and the UN Library in Geneva.
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Urban Studies AbstractsIndex for all aspects of Urban Studies from 1992 to the present. Includes abstracts and many full-text links. Formerly Sage Urban Studies Abstracts.
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Web of ScienceIndexes over 18,000 journals in all subjects (coverage back to 1900 for science and social science journals), as well as 80,000 books and more than 180K conference proceedings. Includes the popular "cited reference search" to identify papers which have cited a previously published work or author. Can also sort by "times cited" and find related articles based on commonly cited works.
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WestlawNextFull text access to federal and state court cases, laws and regulations; law reviews, legal periodicals, and encyclopedias; European Union legal documents; and legal guides.
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Women and Social Movements in the United States 1600-2000Database of digitized books, images, documents, essays and bibiographies documenting women's reform activities in the U.S., mostly from the 19th and 20th centuries.
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Worldwide Political Science Abstracts1975-present. Research within the political science discipline and its complementary fields, including international relations, law, and public administration/policy. Use the UC-eLinks button to find full text, print, and/or request the item from another library.
Multidisciplinary Databases
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Academic Search CompleteMultidisciplinary database with 17,800+ journals and magazines, of which 16,000+ are peer-reviewed and 8,750+ are full-text. Also included are books, conference papers and proceedings, government documents, newspapers, video content, and more. Coverage begins in 1887, with material in English, Spanish, German, French, Italian and Portuguese.
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Google ScholarEasy way to search across thousands of scholarly journals and websites for citations and articles. At UCSD (or through the proxy/VPN), you will see UC-eLinks - use this to check if we have the items you find.
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JSTORSearch by subject or browse 2,600+ full-text titles, predominantly scholarly journals and books in social sciences, history, humanities, and science and mathematics, to their earliest issues. Many titles extend as far back as late 19th or early 20th centuries; most recent 3-5 years often not included. JSTOR provides access to more than 12 million academic journal articles, books, and primary sources in 75 disciplines.