ENGL 127 Research Writing: Social Sciences (Moreno)

This is a guide for Michael Moreno's ENGL 127 with a focus on Urban Studies.

Find Scholarly Books, Book Chapters, and Articles

Find Scholarly Journal Articles

Use a range of strategies to find the best scholarly articles for your essay!

  • Search in multidisciplinary databases to find relevant sources from a range of perspectives.
  • Use individual databases, especially Academic Search Complete, to help you identify useful subject terms.
  • Explore Library Databases by Subject. We have some subject-specific databases you might find useful.
  • Once you have effective search terms (your keywords and subject terms) search in all Holman library databases at once with One Search. 
  • Search with Google Scholar and borrow with InterLibrary Loan
  • Search with WorldCat and borrow with InterLibrary Loan

Multidisciplinary Databases at Holman Library

Holman Library One Search

Keep in mind that the One Search defaults to full text only. Check the box include sources that are not full text to expand your search and use ILL to borrow.

Discover Holman Library Databases by Subject

Online

Google Scholar Search

Find Scholarly Books

Books can be scholarly too, but you need to ask and assess: Is this scholarly?

Find print & ebooks:

Go right to ebooks (which is a good bet for scholarly books):

Questions to Ask to Assess if a Book is Scholarly

Books can be scholarly too! How can you tell? 

A scholarly book will: 

  • Be written by an expert or experts in the field (PH.D., M.D., etc preferred)
  • Usually present new research or analysis of previous research
  • Often be printed by a University Press
  • Written for an academic audience and purpose, rather than a popular audience
  • Include extensive references to other scholarly work

While you can limit a search for articles to scholarly (peer reviewed) journals, you cannot do the same with books. 

You can, however,

  • Use the library’s online catalog to look for scholarly books: 
  • Read the record for the author and publisher. Are their credentials academic?
  • Many of our scholarly books are eBooks. That gives you a chance to check for:
    • Author's credentials (and are there multiple authors even?)
    • Publisher's credentials
    • Academic language and subject matter
    • In-depth analysis
    • In-text citations
    • Thorough and exhaustive references 
  • Most of the world’s library catalogs are available at www.worldcat.org
  • Use WorldCat to search for scholarly books we don't have at Holman Library. Use InterLibrary Loan to borrow scholarly books and articles from other libraries. You can also look online at what's available at local universities like PLU, UPS, UW, UW Tacoma, etc.

Sample Search

Using Database Limiters

Limiting to academic journals in Ebsco's Academic Search Complete database

  • As shown in the image below, two sets of keywords are typed into the boxes: charter schools AND "Washington D.C."
  • You can use the filters below the search boxes to limit by source type, by year, by language, and more - OR, as shown in the next image, you can use the filters on the following page of results.

(click on image to enlarge)

the advanced search page showing the search boxes at top with the various filters at the bottom

  • This image highlights the banner of filters at the top of the page, along with the places to click to view more about the article or download it.

(click on image to enlarge)

the search results page showing a list of articles, with the filters at the top of the page pointed out. Also highlighted are the subject headings and the button to push to download the article.

Subject Terms

Sometimes it's hard to know what search terms to use. Let the databases help. Browse Subject Terms to find the most relevant and precise search terms.

Strategy 1:

Do a keyword search and review / look for subject terms under the articles.

search AND subjects


Strategy 2:

Explore possible subject terms in the limiter.

subjects


Strategy 3:

Browse the Thesaurus.

  • Click on Subjects.
  • Type in your starting Keyword (I typed in housing)
  • Browse the list for words/concepts that address different facets of your topic. 
  • Build a search by checking the box by a concept you want to search.
  • Focus your search using AND / OR.
  • You can add keywords to refine your search.

How to Browse for Subjects in Academic Search Complete

 

How to Browse for Subjects in ASC step 2 - browsing Housing