SPA 202: Intermediate Spanish

Using a database available through the Claire T. Carney Library, rather than a regular search engine, means that you will have results that are found in peer-reviewed and vetted rather than having to dig through the millions of miscellaneous results you will get with a general internet search.

Our library subscribes to many databases that provide citations, abstracts, and sometimes links to full-text articles, the following are some of the ones you may want to check:

I recommend using the advanced search option, and if the database supplies subject headings, use those to narrow down the content that is available for your subject

You may wish to limit your search in these databases to articles in peer-reviewed journals.

Some of the databases include little or no full text, however, the article may be available in electronic format or in paper. Check our Journal Locator to see if we have a copy of the journal in the library.

If we don't have it, you can request it through interlibrary loan. Please fill out the interlibrary loan form. A link to the article will article will be sent to your email address.

This is a library tutorial on understanding citations found in searches of online databases and bibliographies.

Understanding Citations Tutorial

Tutorial: Reading Citations in an Online Database
Self Assessment: Reading Citations

Here are some suggested journal articles that discuss the rethinking of Columbus and his 'discovery' of America:

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.

Use a more specific database to identify articles.  Use the Journal Locator to determine if we own the article: the Journal Locator includes the journals in JSTOR.