Guides: Course Guide ~ LIT 138 / The Road Trip in 20th Century American Literature: What do I choose . . . ?

How do I choose . . . ?

Your initial database search is just the beginning of the research process. You will also want to limit your results in ways that help you find and choose the best sources on which to base your arguments. Below are some things to consider.

Peer reviewed articles

Peer review is defined as the "evaluation of scientific, academic, or professional work by others working in the same field" (Oxford Dictionaries). The scholarly work your professors publish typically appears in peer-reviewed journals, and these are the types of articles you should try to find for your research.

Most of our library databases have boxes you can check to limit your searches to peer reviewed journals.

Full text

Most of our databases let you limit your searches to full text sources. In general, it's best not to check this box early in your search.

Why?

The library may have a print version of an article or book.
A different database may contain the full text of the article or book you want. Use the "Find It" link to see if it is.
The library can get most articles that are not immediately available in full text within a couple days and deliver it to you electronically using interlibrary loan.

If you check the full text box, the items described above won't appear in your search and you may be missing out on some sources that could be very helpful to you.