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GEO 220: World Regional Geography (Alexandria)

Periodical Article Databases

Search Tips

  • Use only the most essential words related to your topic
  • Put the word AND between each new idea.  For example:

 Bali AND tourism
Bali AND tour* AND industry
"air travel" AND globalization
"phosphate mining" AND impact*
communi* AND Vietnam

  • Use related terms to improve your results.  For example, burma and myanmar are related terms.
  • Use quotation marks for phrases:  "child soldiers" 
  • Use an asterisk *  for truncation:  politic*  wil find articles with the words politics, political, and politician

What Are Peer Reviewed Journal Articles?

Image copyright of James Yang.

Many scholarly journals use a process called peer review.

  • Before an article can be published in a peer reviewed journal, the journal requires that other scholars in the author's field (the author's peers) critically evaluate the article.
     
  • Peer review is a kind of quality control process to help ensure that the article represents the best scholarship available.

Click here to learn more
about finding peer reviewed journal articles.

Why can't I just use Google to find articles?

This video by Yavapai College Library in Prescott, Arizona demonstrates the different types of information found in Google versus library databases.  The video also shows the special features of databases and why you can find better information in library databases.

Press the  icon located in the bottom right corner to watch the video in fullscreen mode.