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Welcome to the new library homepage! If you are looking for the old homepage, click here.
Use our recommended databases to find journal articles in your subject area. Learn more about finding articles, or request articles that the library does not have access to.
Best Bets!
Check out these discipline-specific databases for educational research. Focusing on specific disciplines can often help narrow search results.
Link to video tutorials, how-to guides, and other user aids developed by our database providers.
Why use Articles?
Articles provide highly specific information on a topic and are often the first place where new research is discussed. Use discipline databases to find news, trade, professional, and academic articles. The articles published in scholarly, academic journals are often peer-reviewed.
What is Peer Review?
Peer-reviewed (refereed) articles are certified by experts in the field before they are accepted for publication.
Brief Glossary:
What is Primary Research?
Primary research articles are original reports of new research findings. The best way to find an original (primary) research article is to use a library database. Here you will find materials not freely available on the web. Most databases let you limit your searches to articles from peer-reviewed journals published within a certain date range. You will still need to review each article to determine if the author(s) conducted an original study.
Additional Databases
Searching in a different database will often help you find additional articles.
Content: One central search that contains all of NU's subscribed EBSCO databases.
Purpose: Search for articles from multiple disciplines with this collection of databases from EBSCO.
Content: One centralized search for all of NU's subscribed ProQuest databases.
Purpose: Search multiple disciplines with this collection of databases from ProQuest including ProQuest Dissertations.
Constructing an Effective Search
Need an article from a specific journal? Use the box below to see if our library has the journal you're interested in.
Check out our helpful document delivery services for articles.
Examples
Try these searches, then modify to focus on your own research questions. Explore the difference of limiting results to peer review.
When a search does not yield many results, such as the first example above, try a broader search. To then focus your results, try adding another key idea: an intervention strategy, a specific population, or a phrase such as program effectiveness.
See More
When researching a question, don't use complete sentences. Instead, use the most important keywords! For example:
How are mobile devices affecting education?
The most important keywords are:
mobile devices AND education
Use Boolean operators to modify your search. This is very useful when you are searching for journal articles!
Boolean Operators
AND OR NOT
AND will narrow your search results:
"global warming" AND glaciers
OR will expand your search results:
"mobile devices" OR smartphones
NOT will exclude certain results:
cowboys NOT football
Use quotation marks to search for an exact phrase. This will help you find more specific results! For example:
social media = 8221 results
"social media" = 1140 results
Use an asterisk (*) after a set of letters to perform a truncated search. This will find variations of a word. For example:
musc*
will find results containing the words...
muscle, muscular, musculoskeletal, etc.
Found a great journal or article database that you would like us to add to the library's collection? Let us know!
