Subject Guides: English Language Institute (ELI) Library Guide: How to Find Articles

What is a database?

A database is a collection of journals.

A journal is a collection of articles.

So, a database has many articles from many different journals.

What is a scholarly journal?

Do you need articles from a peer-reviewed or scholarly journal?

Find out what that means!

Accessing Databases

There are several ways to access databases from the Libraries' website. These are the recommended ways:

Most Subject Guides include recommended databases. There's a guide for every subject that you can take courses in at Binghamton.
The Databases A-Z List provides the full list of all the databases you have access to through the Libraries. The list can be filtered by database subject and type.

When accessing databases, be sure to go through the Libraries' website to ensure that you'll have access to all of our content. If you try to access databases directly, you'll likely run into paywalls.

Selecting a Database

Selecting a database can seem overwhelming, especially when there are hundreds to choose from. Here are some tips:

Make sure you read the database description before you start searching. The description will tell you about the type of content, dates covered, full-text availability, language, and more.
When selecting a database from the A-Z List, use the dropdown menus to narrow the options by subject and/or type
Consider who is producing information about your topic. How would those people share that information? Depending on who they are, the answer may be scholarly journals, books, newspapers, magazines, blogs, and/or social media. This will affect which type of database is most useful for you.

Recommended Databases

We have access to over 300 different databases. These are especially helpful for ELI students:

MAS Complete
MAS Complete is a full-text database providing hundreds of popular high school magazines and reference books.

Covering subjects such art, history, sports and music, it also includes thousands of biographies and primary source documents, plus over a million photos, maps and flags.
Opposing Viewpoints
Provides differing points of view on social issues. For help, see the tutorial.

Includes viewpoint articles, topic overviews, statistics, primary documents, links to websites, and full-text magazine and newspaper articles.
Newspaper Source Plus
Full text coverage of selected international and regional newspapers, newswires and other news sources.

Includes The Christian Science Monitor, The Los Angeles Times, The Times (London), The Toronto Star, and The Australian; as well as selected full text from hundreds of regional newspapers. All together there is selected full text coverage for 245 newspapers, newswires and other sources. Newswire coverage includes AP Online (Associated Press), Asia Pulse, Canadian Press Wire, World Stream Newswires and more.
Read It
Read It!™ was created for anyone who has a good foundation in English grammar and reading skills. Useful for English Language learners, it is a place to find reading material about many subjects.

Articles are short, and written to support your reading skills as you learn about topics in English that you need for school and everyday life.
Britannica Online
Encyclopedia Britannica Online includes the complete encyclopedia, Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary and Thesaurus, Britannica Year in Review, World Atlas and an Internet Guide.
CQ Researcher
A weekly publication providing original in-depth analysis of the most current major and controversial issues of the day. Coverage: 1991 - present.

CQ Researcher is useful for research on major controversial topics of national and international scope. Each issue that is examined includes a 125-word summary, introduction to the issue, history of the issue, recent events surrounding the issue, where the issue is headed, issue timeline, statements from representatives of opposing positions, works cited, readings for further research, organizations concerned, and notes on sources. Users may browse through articles in the current issue or search for past articles using words, dates or other criteria.
Academic Search Ultimate
Covers over 11,000 journals in all fields of study.

Peer-reviewed, full-text journals, magazines, periodicals, reports, books and videos meets the needs of scholars in every discipline ranging from astronomy, anthropology, biomedicine, engineering, health, mathematics, pharmacology, women’s studies, zoology and more.
ERIC (EBSCO)
Gain immediate access to information from journals included in the Current Index of Journals in Education and Resources in Education Index with ERIC. Coverage: 1966-present.

Contains annotated references to educational materials including journal articles, books, theses, curriculi, conference papers, standards and guidelines, and science education resources.
JSTOR
Primarily a journal archive with some current content. If you are looking for current information, you may want to try other databases as well.

JSTOR has a "moving wall," which represents the time period between the last issue available in JSTOR and the most recently published issue of a journal. Publishers determine the moving wall length in their license agreements with JSTOR. Moving walls may range from zero to ten years, and those with walls from zero to seven years participate in our revenue sharing program. In calculating the moving wall, the current, incomplete year is not counted.
PsycINFO (APA)
Covers general psychology and specialized, basic, applied, clinical and theoretical research in psychology. Coverage: 1887-current.