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CMPL395/GSLL295/ROML295: Research, Creativity, and Innovation in the Humanities: Finding Articles

Open Access Journals

What is Open Access?

Open access is a broad international movement that seeks to grant free and open online access to academic information, such as publications and data. A publication is defined 'open access' when there are no financial, legal or technical barriers to accessing it - that is to say when anyone can read, download, copy, distribute, print, search for and search within the information, or use it in education or in any other way within the legal agreements. (openaccess.nl)

DOAJ (Directory of Open Access Journals)

DOAJ is a unique and extensive index of diverse open access journals from around the world, driven by a growing community, committed to ensuring quality content is freely available online for everyone.

There are many international databases of open access journals. Consult with an area studies librarian for assistance.

Articles+

E-Research and Subject Librarians by Discipline

The E-Research by Discipline page is where you can find discipline specific:

databases
subject research guides
contact information for the Subject Librarian covering specific disciplines

Humanities Databases

For a complete list of relevant databases go to the E-Research by Discipline page.

JSTOR
Provides an image archive of important scholarly journal literature in nearly all the humanities and social sciences disciplines, international and foreign areas studies, and many of the sciences. UNC patrons have access to extensive retrospective holdings of hundreds of journals, starting with the first issues. Excludes the most recent 2-5 years of currently available journals.
Access: Off Campus Access is available for: UNC-Chapel Hill students, faculty, and staff; UNC Hospitals employees; UNC-Chapel Hill affiliated AHEC users.
Coverage: Varies. Excludes most recent 2-5 years of currently available journals.
Project Muse
Provides access to important university press and other scholarly publisher e-journals mainly in the humanities and social science content for the scholarly community.
Access: Off Campus Access is available for: UNC-Chapel Hill students, faculty, and staff; UNC Hospitals employees; UNC-Chapel Hill affiliated AHEC users.
Coverage: Varies
MLA International Bibliography
A major index for literary criticism, linguistics, folklore & cultural studies. Includes articles from several thousand journals and series published worldwide. Also covers relevant monographs, working papers, proceedings, dissertations and bibliographies. Also searchable under "Criticism" within Literature Online.
Access: Off Campus Access is available for: UNC-Chapel Hill students, faculty, and staff; UNC Hospitals employees; UNC-Chapel Hill affiliated AHEC users.
Coverage: 1884-present
Language: Various
Literary Reference Plus
Offers a wealth of material with which to study and analyze literature: plot summaries, critical essays, author biographies, literary journals, book reviews, poems, short stories, and author interviews. It also provides reference material such as several encyclopedias of literature.
Access: Off Campus Access is available for: UNC-Chapel Hill students, faculty, and staff; UNC Hospitals employees; UNC-Chapel Hill affiliated AHEC users.
ARTstor
A digital library of over 2 million images and media files covering the arts, architecture, humanities, social sciences, and sciences with tools for teaching, research and study. See ARTstor's complete list of available collections. Anyone can browse ARTstor collections using a computer on UNC campus. In order to view full size images and download or save content, however, you must first register for an ARTstor user account. For more information, see the library's ARTstor guide.
Access: Off Campus Access is available for: UNC-Chapel Hill students, faculty, and staff; UNC Hospitals employees; UNC-Chapel Hill affiliated AHEC users. Users must register for a free ARTstor account in order to view full size images and download or save content.
Google Scholar
Enables you to search specifically for scholarly literature, including peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, preprints, abstracts and technical reports from all broad areas of research. Use Google Scholar to find articles from a wide variety of academic publishers, professional societies, preprint repositories and universities, as well as scholarly articles available across the web.
Access: Off Campus Access is available for: UNC-Chapel Hill students, faculty, and staff; UNC Hospitals employees; UNC-Chapel Hill affiliated AHEC users.

Effective Seaching Tips

*Keep track of what you find and where you found it.*

Once you've developed your research topic and have determined which database best suits your needs:

Identify the key concepts and terms and combine them into a well-crafted search string
Consider related terms
Apply search strategies: quotation marks, Boolean operators AND, OR, NOT (in CAPS), asterisk and more...
Use the ways that databases provide to filter your results: format, subject, date range of publication, peer-reviewed articles, and more
Use useful tools offered by databases: citation, email, saving, printing, translation, and more..
Need help? Ask a librarian.

Database Search Tips

How to search JSTOR

How to search Project Muse

How to search MLA International Bibliography

How to search Literary Reference Center Plus

How to search Artstor

How to search Google Scholar