A Student Guide to the John M. Pfau Library: Finding Articles
HOW TO FIND SCHOLARLY JOURNAL ARTICLES
Selecting a Database
To find scholarly journal articles, you will need to search one of the library's databases which provide free content to CSUSB students. You can do this in the library or from home. Always begin on the library's website. A reference librarian can recommend the best database for your topic and show you how to use it. See our guide, How to Begin a Database Search which includes a video tutorial.
Searching a Database
Keyword searching is a method for getting what you want out of a database. See our guide, Keyword Search Strategies which includes a video tutorial.
Do you need an article we don't have? Get it from another library with our Interlibrary Loan Services.
ARTICLES: POPULAR VS. SCHOLARLY
Most of the time your professors will ask you to choose scholarly journal articles for your papers and projects. See our guide, What Are Scholarly Journals? Also see our video tutorial, Popular and Scholarly Sources.
CHOOSING AND NARROWING A TOPIC
Here is some help for choosing and narrowing topics for your papers and projects:
- Choosing a TopicChoosing a topic can be the hardest part of an assignment--make it easier! This guide gives you strategies you can use right away.
- Narrowing a TopicIf your topic is too big for your paper, it makes things more difficult than they need to be. This guide has lots of strategies you can use right away to narrow down a topic.