If you are doing research and need an article from a journal, your best bet is to search in one of our databases, being sure to limit your search to scholarly, peer-reviewed journals.
You can search or browse for a particular title in the library's discovery tool. This link limits the search to journals that have been categorized as being a Sociology journals.
Browzine has a virtual shelf for Sociology journals. You can save titles to your bookshelf to read on your computer or in the mobile app and sign up for notifications.
Whether your instructor says an article from a scholarly, academic, or peer-reviewed article, they are referring to articles that undergo a specific review and publishing process. Often these articles are long and can be difficult to read, or you may struggle with knowing if something is scholarly or not.
Reading a scholarly journal article can be intimidating and overwhelming. Here are some resources to help you read them with ease:
The title is typically specific about the article's content and uses accurate and professional language.
There are often many authors listed in the byline along with their professional affiliation, whether it be a university, hospital, or government agency, is listed.
Abstracts are short summaries of the article that highlight the main points. While not always given in a structure manner, they frequently include what research was done, how they did it, what they found and future implications.
Summary data that was used for research is included so that other professionals are able to evaluate the data and and reach their own conclusions.
References to the many works that were consulted and used are included. Most references are other scholarly works, but depending on the subject it can include things like psychological tests, data files, or government reports.
Because they have so much to share, they are typically more than 10 pages long. Usually, there's at least one full page of citations, and the first page is dominated by the title and abstract. Either way, the charts, tables, and research take up a lot of room!
Often a link to the publishing journal can be found somewhere in the database record or on the article. However, usually the easiest thing to do is simply google the title of the journal. They should have a homepage that tells people how to get their article published in their journal, and will include information about their editorial process.
