Our library subscribes to many databases that provide citations, abstracts, and sometimes links to full-text articles. This page identifies useful databases to which the library subscribes.
JSTOR stands for Journal Storage. It is an electronic archive of older issues of some important academic journals. Some faculty members like to search it by topic because of the convenience of the full text.
I do not recommend searching JSTOR by subject unless you are looking for a very specific unusual word or phrase you can find no where else! Why:
1. Nothing in JSTOR is current. It is journal storage. There is a delay of at least three--and usually five--years between journal publication and inclusion in JSTOR.
2. It is a key word only search. There is no subject searching. If you search for your word or phrase in the title and the author used another word or phrase, the article will not appear.
3. Searches yield too many hits, many of them irrelevant. Do you really want to look through 600 or more articles for a few useful ones? Scholars can go through large searches and identify the few relevant articles relatively quickly because they are already very familiar with the subject. Students cannot.
Using a licensed database rather than a regular search engine finds articles in respected journals rather than miscellaneous stuff on the internet.
Our library subscribes to many databases that provide citations, abstracts, and sometimes links to full-text articles. The Modern Languages Associations International Bibliography is an enormous database, including material that goes back to 1963, on all aspects of language and literature in all languages. The MLA database includes journal articles, books, and chapters of books.
You may limit your search to journal articles and limit it further to peer-reviewed articles. You may also limit by language of the article. (Remember that many articles on foreign literatures are in that foreign language.)
ALWAYS USE THE ADVANCED SEARCH OPTION. IF THE DATABASE SUPPLIES SUBJECT HEADINGS, USE THEM.
If we don't have an article, you may request a copy through interlibrary loan. A copy of the article will be sent to your email address.
This is a library tutorial on understanding citations found in searches of online databases and bibliographies.
Tutorial: Reading Citations in an Online Database
Self Assessment: Reading Citations
