Research Help

Article databases provide you with 24-7 access to magazine, journal and newspaper articles via the Internet. To help you identify the most appropriate database for your topic/subject:

• consult the database descriptions on the Library's Database by Subject page
• check to see if there is a LibGuide that covers your subject area or topic.
• Still not sure?  Try doing an "all database" advanced search in EBSCO.

If you come across an article or book you need for your research, and the Library does not provide full-text access to it in print or electronic format, request it through our Interlibrary Loan (ILL) service. ILL requests can take anywhere from a day to over a week to receive. This is a free service for Kirkwood students and employees.

Please note: Database access may require entering your k number and password.

Scholarly journals specialize in publishing technical and research-oriented articles, and are mostly intended for students and scholars. Because journal articles are often accessed individually online, here are some clues to look for when identifying them:

What do scholarly articles (also called "empirical research articles" or "peer-review articles") look like?

• Authors of the articles are scholars, researchers and experts within the field. Their credentials will be given.
• The articles are typically quite long, 8 pages at a minimum.
• Technical language or jargon is used.
• Articles are "peer-reviewed" meaning a group of other experts in the field reviewed the article before publication.

Use the acronym IMRaD to remember the major sections found in a scholarly article:

• An abstract summarizing the research and findings
• An Introduction stating the problem
• A Methods section that describing how the problem was studied
• A Results section reporting the findings, And
• A Discussion explaining the implications of the findings
• A list of cited works or bibliography

These videos and tutorials are from Credo InfoLit. You may need to log in with your k number and password to view content.

These videos and tutorials are from Credo InfoLit. You may need to log in with your k number and password to view content.