Why do I need to use scholarly/peer reviewed articles?

Scholarly/peer reviewed articles are articles written by experts in the field and reviewed by other experts within the field. Your professor wants to make sure you use these articles so you know they are based on scholarly research and fact, not just someone's opinion. Most papers you write in college will require scholarly/peer reviewed articles. If you need help with your research please contact the Political Science Librarian, Brea Henson.

Academic Search Complete is a multidisciplinary database that provides a scholarly collection of full text journal coverage for nearly all academic areas of study - including social sciences, humanities, education, computer sciences, engineering, language and linguistics, arts & literature, medical sciences, and ethnic studies, etc.

To access Academic Search Complete, go to the Databases tab (circled in red below) from the blue box on the library homepage. Then use the Select a Database drop down menu to select Academic Search Complete (highlighted in yellow below) and click the Go button to the right (circled in red below). If you are off campus, you will be prompted to sign in your EUID and Password.

Example research question: Why is Texas Senate Bill 4, the ban on "sanctuary cities," controversial among lawmakers?

In the text box, enter your search term(s), these are key words from your research question. The example shows "sanctuary cities" (highlighted in yellow below). If you are searching for a phrase like this, put quotes around the phrase so the database knows you want to search the two words back to back, without the quotes the database will search for both words anywhere in the article. Click the green Search button (circled in red below) to the right of the text box to find articles.

The results list will show over 100 results. You will need to use the limiters on the left hand side of the results page. Specifically, Limit to Scholarly (Peer Reviewed) Journals (circled in red below). You can also limit by Publication Date if you are researching a more current event or by Geography if needed.

An additional way to limit your search results is by adding additional terms. For example, and "immigration law" (highlighted in yellow below.) This will make your results even more specific. If this makes your results too narrow, remove the additional terms.

If you have questions please ask your Political Science Librarian!