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Social Work: Journal Articles

This guide is a compilation of library and Internet resources that may be useful in doing research for Social Work classes.

What are journal articles?

Also known as "scholarly articles," "peer-reviewed articles," "academic articles," or "research articles," journal articles are:

  • written and reviewed by scholars and provide new research, analysis, or information about a specific topic.
    • "Peer review" means the article is approved by other experts before publication
  • focused on a narrow subject or a single case study
  • intended for an academic audience

Is it a scholarly journal article?

Additional strategies

  • Search the internet for the web site of the journal, which frequently includes instruction for authors.  Often the instructions will use the phrase "peer reviewed" or say that manuscripts are sent for blind review, reviewed by a committee, or anonymously reviewed.
  • As you search for articles in the library's research databases, look for an option to limit your search to scholarly journals or peer-reviewed journals. These kinds of filters aren't perfect. It is still important to double-check the journal's web site if you have any doubts.

Find journal articles: A good place to start

Where do I find journal articles?

The most common tools used to find journal articles are databases. BGSU Libraries provides access to more than 300 databases from a variety of publishers and aggregators. It is important to note:

  • some databases only provide citations for articles
  • some databases provide full text of the articles in HTML or PDF formats
  • some databases provide a mix of citations only and some full text

The EBSCO suite of databases linked below is a good place to start.

How do I get full text? Try the "Find it" link first.

EBSCO provides a mix of citations only and citations with full text. If you don't see the PDF or HTML full text of the article, use the "Find it" link on the left hand side of the screen. A new tab will open to give you more information about our access to the article. One of the following scenarios may happen after clicking on "Find it", the link will:

  • take you directly to the article at the publisher's web site
  • take you to the publisher's web site, where you may need to search again for the article title
  • OR, you may find that we do not have a subscription for the article. In that case, we recommend using the Interlibrary Loan (ILL) process to request the article from another library.

No full text? Request the source via Interlibrary Loan

Find articles: Supplemental Databases