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Strategic Communication

What's a scholarly article?

Assignments may ask you to find scholarly and peer-reviewed articles. These items:

  • are published in journals 
  • generally focus on scholarly research
  • are written by experts in the field or discipline
  • are critically reviewed by other experts before publication
  • contain cited references to the information sources used

Using Databases to Find Scholarly Articles

Databases are collections of scholarly articles or other resources. They are usually subject-specific, like Communication & Mass Media Complete, the premier database for all communication research. Alternatively, it has become more popular to search multiple databases at once using a generic EBSCO search or Library Search. The advantages of this approach are that it's easy to get started and the number of search results is increased because of the interdisciplinary approach. The downside is if you want to ensure that your results are relevant to your area/discipline of study.  

Usually, you want to start with a database when you are searching for a topic. If you are interested in browsing research to get ideas for topics or to just learn new developments in the field, you should start with the journals tab of this guide. Also, start with journals if you already have a citation for a specific article. 

Databases