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UGS 303: Cultural Issues with Latin America - Kelm

Find Scholarly Articles

Find Articles on a Topic

Single articles on a topic are found in our library databases.  The UT Libraries pay to have access to these databases and the articles they contain.

You can search in databases that are multidisciplinary or subject-specific:

 

Type of Database About Start Here

Multidisciplinary

  • Include popular and scholarly articles on all topics
  • Useful if scholars from multiple disciplines would write about your topic or if you don't know where to start
  • Great for assignments in UGS and other undergraduate courses where you may only need a few sources

 

Academic Search Complete

 

Subject-specific

  • Include scholarly and specialized articles from a specific discipline
  • To choose a database, think about what department on campus would have scholars researching your topic, then use the "All Subjects" dropdown menu on the databases page to find that department. (ex. PsycINFO for Psychology topics)

See the course-specific list below

OR

Databases List (use the "All Subjects" dropdown menu)

Learn more about databases with the video in the right column.

See search examples on the second tab in this box, "Keywords and Database Searching"

Searching databases is different than searching Google. Distil what you're looking for into a few key terms or phrases, rather than whole sentences. Think of different ways to say those key terms, because different writers will refer to the same concept using different terms. To turn your topic into keywords or search terms, use this tool, or:  

  1. Write down your topic and underline the main concepts (ex. favelas' impact on creative culture in Brazil)
  2. For each main concept, brainstorm a few synonyms and related terms (broader or narrower) that get at that concept:
    • Key Concepts 

      Favelas Brazil Creative culture
      Related Terms

       

      favella

      favelados

      urban slums

       

      Dance

      Music

      samba 

      carnival

  3. Combine key terms using AND and OR:​​
    • AND narrows your search by looking for articles with all of the words (your two or three key concepts should be connected with AND, because you need all of them represented in useful articles). 
    • OR broadens your search by looking for articles with any of the words (synonyms and related terms should be separated by OR - they get at the same key concepts, so any of them are useful).
  4. Try different combinations of your keywords to get better results as you search:

 

Databases

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What are databases?

This video, from RMIT University, explains what a database is...

Where's the Article?

If you don’t see a .pdf of the article you want, click FIND IT AT UT to find it in another database or in print in the Libraries.

If it is only in print in the Libraries or we don’t own the article, click GET A SCAN to have the article emailed to you. This option will take a few days.

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 Generic License.