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CO 211: Introduction to Journalism

Searching Databases -- Getting Started

Most research databases allow you to limit your searches to scholarly or peer reviewed articles. Many databases will return full text articles and abstracts (summaries) of the articles.

Click the article title to get started. If you cannot view the full text of the article in a particular database, click either the "Get Article" or "Link to Full Text" link to see whether it is available in another library database. If the article is unavailable through the Monmouth University Library, it may be requested through Interlibrary Loan

Subscription databases are available to Monmouth University students, faculty and staff. For remote log in, use your university username and password.

View the entire list of MU databases in the  A to Z List of Databases - or view Databases by Subject.

Ebsco databases look different in 2025 - see the box on this page for what's new!

Need an article in a popular magazine like The Atlantic or National Geographic? No problem! Flipster has current, full issues of popular magazines that you can virtually "flip" through! 

HawkFind

  
Scholarly & Peer Reviewed   Beyond Library Collection
  
Advanced Search
   

Where Do I Find?

Multi-Subject Databases

Communication Databases

News & Journalism Databases

NOTE: Monmouth University has access to the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal via their desktop platforms. You must have MU login credentials to set up your free account. Click the "info" icon for details on setting up your MU New York Times account.

Search Tips

  • Use the word "AND" to combine your keywords to make your search more specific, e.g. "substance abuse" AND "domestic violence."
  • Use synonyms and alternative or related terms - broader or narrower - to expand your relevant results, e.g. "teenagers" | "adolescents" | "youth"
  • Use the truncation "*" (star) symbol to search for words with common roots without entering them individually, e.g. searching for teen* retrieves "teen," "teens", "teenaged", "teenagers." Use the "star" symbol (hit "shift" key + 8) to add truncation to your search term.
  • You can limit search results in many databases to academic/peer-reviewed journals, by publication date, or full-text only.

Peer Reviewed Journals & Ulrichsweb

  • Use Ulrichsweb to get a snapshot of the publication details for most academic journals.
  • You can find Ulrichsweb in the Databases A-Z List on the library homepage.
  • To determine whether a specific journal is peer-reviewed, type its title into the search bar.
  • Look for the "refereed" icon indicating that a specific journal is refereed (peer-reviewed).

In the below example, the black and white “ref jersey” icon in the second column indicates that American Anthropologist is refereed (peer-reviewed).

Graphic showing spreadsheet indicating journals list with referee jersey icons

 

Google Scholar Search - Details & VIdeo

Search Google Scholar for scholarly full-text materials available in addition to those you locate in HawkFind. If there is a link to the right of any of your search results, follow the link to view the full article (you may not have access to all the articles in your search results)Check out the Google Search tips video (created by Concordia University) for additional help, and be sure to access Google Scholar from the Monmouth University website in order to view accessible articles.

Google Scholar Search