Databases and Journals listed below are just some of your options! Be sure to conduct your own research!
Keywords & Subject Headings:
When looking for resources in the Gordon Library catalog, a good initial strategy to guide your search is using subject headings as your keywords.
Subject headings are preferred, standardized terms developed by subject area experts, whereas 'keywords' are generally based upon natural or subjective language.
WPI uses Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH). Keyword searches look at most (if not all) of the words in a catalog record, but subject searches only look for words in the subject heading fields. Subject searches are more precise, creating specific results. Consider some of the approaches recommended by librarians in the following video--
Developing keywords for research
Run Time: 2:44
Key Student Learning Competencies:
Try using some of the listed subject terms links/ keywords to find resources supported by--and accessible through--the Gordon Library.
Term |
Example |
Result |
AND |
urban AND transportation |
Narrows the search to entries containing both terms. |
OR |
college OR university |
Broadens the search to entries containing either term. |
NOT |
bat NOT baseball |
Excludes entries containing the second term. |
“ ” |
“higher education” |
Retrieves results containing the exact phrase in quotes. |
? |
globali?ation |
Wildcard: Retrieves both globalization and globalisation. |
* |
feminis* |
Truncation: Retrieves feminism, feminist, feminists, etc. |
Check out some of the following tutorials related to the research process.
Library Searching in 60 Seconds
Run Time: 1:03
Key Student Learning Competencies:
Locating relevant databases for research
Run Time: 2:27
Key Student Learning Competencies:
Finding full-text videos
Run Time: 2:55
Key Student Learning Competencies:
Peer Review Overview
Run Time: 2:52
Key Student Learning Competencies:
The following tutorials will help students identify valid, legitimate, and scholarly rigorous information for your research.
TRAAP
Run Time: 3:17
Key Student Learning Competencies:
SIFT
Run Time: 1:52
Key Student Learning Competencies:
A peer-reviewed journal is a respected academic publication. Before articles are published within these types of journals, they are sent by the editors of the journal to other scholars in the field ("peers"), often anonymously, to get feedback on the quality of the scholarship, review research methods, as well as relevance or importance to the field. The article may be accepted, often with revisions suggested, or rejected for publication.
Peer-reviewed journals are highly respected, and researchers wish to have their works published in them. Many often have low acceptance rates.
One way to find peer reviewed articles is to type your keywords into WPI Library Search, and then choose the filter for Peer-reviewed Journals. You can also find examples of Journals for Gender and Sexuality Studies listed below, as well as in corresponding subject tabs of this guide.
You can also search our Databases for peer-reviewed articles.
Search the Gale databases provided by the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners, including: Gale Academic OneFile,Gale Academic OneFile Select, and more. This resource is provided by the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners (MBLC) in partnership with the Massachusetts Library System (MLS). The purchase is supported by funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Google search for scholarly literature, including peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, preprints, abstracts and technical reports on all topic areas. Use to find articles from academic publishers, professional societies, prepublication repositories and universities.
Indexing and full text of hundreds of journals, books and other published sources from around the world on various humanities topics.
International Newsstream provides the most recent news content outside of the US and Canada, with archives which stretch back decades featuring newspapers, newswires, and news sites in active full-text format. ProQuest International Newsstream provides information from more than 660 of the world's top newspapers, including The Times (London), The Bangkok Post, El Norte, Financial Times, The Guardian, Jerusalem Post, South China Morning Post, The Daily Telegraph, Asian Wall Street Journal, and the BBC Monitoring series of publications. Coverage areas include Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Europe, Latin America, Middle East, Africa
Online archive of eBooks and complete backruns of scholarly journals in a variety of academic fields.
Full text access to scholarly humanities, social sciences, and mathematics journals.
A comprehensive collection of periodicals supporting religion and philosophy. This resource is provided by the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners (MBLC) in partnership with the Massachusetts Library System (MLS). The purchase is supported by funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Over 1100 titles, many published on behalf of prestigious societies, organizations and associations such as: Association of American Geographers, American Planning Association, British Educational Research Association, and the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS). Search and explore the millions of quality, peer-reviewed journal articles published under the Taylor & Francis, Routledge and Dove Medical Press imprints.
Search journals published by Wiley-Blackwell. WPI subscribes to many titles in various topic areas such as chemistry, medical & life sciences, materials science and engineering.
A powerful search tool to streamline your library research. Entering terms into a single search box yields results that include: books and e-books, research and news articles, project reports, electronic theses and dissertations, archival materials, patents, open access collections and more.
Interlibrary Loan
Remember! If there is something you need—even an article or journal issue— that the WPI library does not have in print or electronically, you can request your item through interlibrary loan. Our Interlibrary Loan (ILL) service allows WPI students and faculty to request items from other libraries free of charge.