BI 234 (Alattar): Articles in peer-reviewed journals
WATCH THIS VIDEO: Reading Scientific Articles
- Using Scientific ArticlesThis 14-minute video will help you get the most information from research articles.
READ THIS Tip sheet: Find peer-reviewed articles
- Find articles in peer-reviewed journalsRead this tip sheet that walks you through how to find relevant research-based articles from peer-reviewed journals.
READ THIS Tip sheet: Review Articles
There are two kinds of peer-reviewed articles to consider using for your assignments: research articles, which communicate the findings of research the authors have carried out, and review articles, which gather the findings of many research projects and articles. See the instructions below for how to find REVIEW articles and how they can help you:
- Find a REVIEW article in ScienceDirectThis handout describes why REVIEW articles are helpful and how to find them in the ScienceDirect database.
- ScienceDirect This link opens in a new windowFull text for more than 1,000 peer-reviewed life sciences, Health Science, physical sciences, and engineering journals with citation information for thousands more. Look for the "Full-text available" indicators to view articles online. View the Science Direct handout.
Databases for Research
Databases provide access to journal articles and sometimes videos and additional content.
New to scholarly science journals? Read Science Buddy's How To Read a Scientific Paper, a short tutorial to help you get the most out of your research.
- Academic Search Premier This link opens in a new windowFull text for more than 4,500 scholarly social sciences, humanities, general science, education and multi-cultural journals. 3,700 are peer-reviewed.
- Biological Science Database This link opens in a new windowFull text articles from 280 biology journals, many of them peer-reviewed.
- ScienceDirect This link opens in a new windowFull text for more than 1,000 peer-reviewed life sciences, Health Science, physical sciences, and engineering journals with citation information for thousands more. Look for the "Full-text available" indicators to view articles online. View the Science Direct handout.
- Google Scholar This link opens in a new windowGoogle Scholar searches the web for scholarly articles, reports, books, and other materials. If using Google Scholar from a PCC campus, you can access full text articles. If PCC has access to an article, a "Find it @ PCC" link will appear to the right of the search result. Click “Find it @ PCC” to go to the library catalog where you will be offered a choice to view the article. From home, you will need to set your Google Scholar preferences to access PCC Library resources. See How to Search PCC Library on Google Scholar for directions on how to set your Google Scholar preferences at home.
- Health Source: Nursing/Academic Edition This link opens in a new windowScholarly full text journals focusing on many medical disciplines. Coverage of nursing and allied health is particularly strong. Also includes Merriam-Webster's Medical Desk Dictionary.
- JSTOR This link opens in a new windowFull text of about 600 scholarly journals in the arts and sciences, from their earliest issues up to 3-5 years ago. This is where you'll find the classic experiments of the past!
- MEDLINE This link opens in a new windowCovers the international literature on biomedicine, including allied health. Citations available from 1965 - present; some full text.
Find Articles with Google Scholar
Before searching, be sure to set PCC as your library in your browser by:
- Visiting the link to set "Library Links" settings for Google Scholar,
- using the search box to search for "Portland Community College",
- checking the check box that appears underneath the search to select “Portland Community College – Find it @ PCC”,
- and then selecting the Save button.
This will ensure that when you search Google Scholar in your browser, you will see Find It @ PCC links to full text if we have the article (Google Scholar sometimes also provides links to other free sources for full text).
You can learn more about setting Google Scholar preferences on the PCC Library Website.
- Google Scholar This link opens in a new windowGoogle Scholar searches the web for scholarly articles, reports, books, and other materials. If using Google Scholar from a PCC campus, you can access full text articles. If PCC has access to an article, a "Find it @ PCC" link will appear to the right of the search result. Click “Find it @ PCC” to go to the library catalog where you will be offered a choice to view the article. From home, you will need to set your Google Scholar preferences to access PCC Library resources. See How to Search PCC Library on Google Scholar for directions on how to set your Google Scholar preferences at home.
Food-related articles? Try this!
- Culinary Arts (Gale OneFile) This link opens in a new windowIncludes 250 major cooking and nutrition magazines as well as reference content. Coverage includes searchable recipes, restaurant reviews, and industry information.
Culinary Arts includes lots of content on food science and food technology. It's a great source for trade journals, the periodicals designed to help people do their jobs well.
Peer-review explained
Using peer-reviewed articles
This guide will help you find peer-reviewed articles, but often reading them is even more challenging!
- Science Buddieshas a simple guide to reading a scientific paper, a/k/a a journal article.
- Jennifer Raff, of Violent Metaphorsoffers a much more detailed look at reading research articles, with attention to each section. At the end of the post linked here, she links to a very detailed, step-by-step reading of a research article.