Use databases when you need to find an article (or articles) about a topic. Kraemer Family Library has over 200 different databases. To make selecting a database for your topic easier, we have created lists of databases by subject. A good place to start your research is in a general database which covers many different topics all at once.
When you are doing research from off-campus, you will be prompted to log in to electronic resources with your UCCS username and password. This is just like logging into Canvas.
Click here if you experience problems accessing resources from off campus.
If your professor told you to use scholarly, or peer-reviewed, sources for your assignment, you need to find an article published in a peer-reviewed journal. Use a library search tools to locate articles, then check them for the following features:
Is this an article that was published in a journal? (Hint: Look near the bottom or top of the page for a journal name, volume number, issue number, year and page numbers.)
Does the article tell you where the author works (and maybe their contact details)? (Hint: Look for footnotes by the author's name.)
Is there an abstract at the beginning of the article? (A summary of the article, written by the authors.)
Does the article end with a bibliography or list of works cited? (There could also be extensive footnotes.)
Is the language in the article more technical than a typical magazine or newspaper?
Does the article's formatting look really boring? (No advertisements or glossy color pictures.)
If you answered YES to most of these questions, the article you're looking at is probably scholarly!
Search the more academic side of Google! Google Scholar can find journal articles, books, government reports, technical papers, etc. Make sure to read the record carefully so that you know what type of source you have found.
DON'T PAY FOR ARTICLES!!!!!!
If you are off campus follow these steps in Google Scholar to access any content the library owns: