HCOL First Year Students: An Introduction to the UVM Libraries

The UVM Libraries subscribes to hundreds of databases to help you locate scholarly journal articles, news, and magazine articles.  

Many professors will require that you focus on the scholarly journal literature as you conduct your research. Depending on the assignment, other professors may not have this requirement. However, it is important to be able to discern the scholarly, peer-reviewed journal literature from other types of periodical literature.

What is a Scholarly Journal?: Distinguishing between Scholarly and Non-Scholarly Periodicals

Choose a general, multi-subject resource to start, such as Academic Search Premier,  and then use a subject-specific database to get a greater depth of access to the subject literature.

When researching a topic, a recommended way to start is by using a broad, interdisciplinary database to locate journal articles. 

Academic Search Premier is a great database to start with. 

From the library home page (http://library.uvm.edu ):

1) Click on:  Research databases

In Research Databases (green button on library home page):

• browse the entire alphabetical list of article databases (choose "article databases" from the "All Info Types" list):

OR

• browse the article databases lists by Subject. 

A blue flag  next to a database indicates a suggested starting point

• Why Use Subject-Specific Article Databases? 
  By using a subject-specific database, you will focus your search on the literature in a particular field. This often gives you:

1. More precise and relevant search results
2. Access to a greater depth of literature in that field
3. A look at how scholars think and talk about subjects in their field

Subject-Based Library Research Guides are available in a variety of disciplines, created by Howe Librarians in Information & Instruction Services. View the list in the Subjects column.