UPDATE (5/20/26 @ 7:30am AZ time):
The GCU Library's updated version of LopeCat, the library’s online catalog, is live! For more details on what has changed, visit the What's New Guide .
Introduction to Graduate Studies: Finding Journal Articles
Journal Articles: The Cornerstone of Research
The vast majority of required resources for assignments are journal articles.
The library subscribes to databases that are the best place to locate scholarly or peer-reviewed articles. There are three common types of articles required for assignments: scholarly sources, peer reviewed journal articles, and empirical journal articles.
All peer reviewed and empirical articles are scholarly, but not all scholarly resources are articles or peer reviewed, so review what the assignment or your professor requests carefully.
Scholarly Resources: Scholarly resources are written with a focus on a specific subject discipline and usually written by an expert in the same subject field. Scholarly resources are written for an academic audience.
Examples of Scholarly Resources include: Academic journals, books written by experts in a field, and formally published encyclopedias and dictionaries.
Peer Reviewed Journals: Peer reviewed journals are evaluated prior to publication by experts in the journal’s subject discipline. This process ensures that the articles published within the journal are academically rigorous and meet the required expectations of an article in that subject discipline.
Empirical Journal Article : This type of scholarly resource is a subset of scholarly articles that reports the original finding of an observational and/or experimental research study. Common aspects found within an empirical article include: literature review, methodology, results, and discussion.
Need just scholarly articles? Many databases have limits for academic/scholarly journals. These appear on the limit/filter menu in ProQuest and EBSCO:
The pros and cons of using Google Scholar:
Pros:
- Familiar Google interface.
- Can be linked to the GCU Library.
- Searches for various types of resources in one place.
- Provides automatic citation information.
- Has the ability to export citations to citation management software.
- Allows for the creation of search alerts.
Cons:
- Not everything in Google Scholar is freely available.
- Search results are not easily sorted.
- The type of resource is not always clear.
- There is no filter for peer reviewed sources.
We have a guide with more information about using Google Scholar
Choosing the right database is step one in getting relevant results!
- Use LopeSearch below to search across multiple databases and subjects, or visit the A to Z database list to see a full list of recommended databases for each subject.
Unless you have a very specific or multidisciplinary topic, using a subject specific database or the subject LopeSearch will help focus your results in your discipline, as some terms can appear in many different contexts.
Databases work on keywords! Do not enter long phrases or whole sentences.
LopeSearch
Or use the Find Journal Articles page to locate subject specific databases:
Choose your subject from the menu to see a list of recommended databases.
- Find Journal Articles--All GCU Library Databases This link opens in a new windowA complete listing of GCU Library's subscription databases.
Research Database Basics
New to research in databases? View the tips below for the basics of what databases are and how they work.
Boolean Operators
The Boolean Operator ‘ and’ retrieves articles that contain ALL terms
Narrowsthe search
The Boolean Operator ‘ or’
retrieves articles with either/any of the terms
Broadensthe search
The Boolean Operator ‘ not’ eliminates articles that have this term
Narrowsthe search
How They Are Used
AND
cat AND dogUsing AND, this search would retrieve results with cats AND dogs
OR
cat OR dogUsing OR, this search would retrieve results with cats, with dogs, and with both
NOT
cat NOT dogUsing NOT, this search would retrieve results with cats, and exclude those with dogs, or cats and dogs
Boolean Operators in Action
Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT) can be typed into the search line with your search terms, like this: cat AND
dog, cat OR
dog, cat NOT
dog.
This image shows what it looks like in the database search box:
You can also use the dropdown box the database has provided, and type a term (cat) in the first line, change the dropdown box to the Boolean term you want to use ( AND, OR, NOT ), and put your second term (dog) in the box beside the dropdown menu. This image shows what this technique looks like in the database search box:
You can also combine the truncation technique with the Boolean operator. This image shows cat* AND dog* (truncated with the asterisk at the end of the root of your search term to include all possible endings for cat and dog).
To broaden our search even more we can include synonyms, truncation, and Boolean operators. In this search we have searched for: [cat* or feline or kitten*] AND [dog or canine or pup*].
Truncation
What is it?
Truncation is an easy way to search for multiple versions of a word.
How does it work?
Remove the end of the word (leaving the root of the word) and replace the ending with an asterisk *.
Why should I use truncation?
It saves time, and will expand your search to include all versions of the word. When you search in a database you are trying to identify keywords and subject terms; truncating a word will give you a greater chance of finding articles on your topic.
How To Do It
For our example , we'll use the word nurse:
An article about nurses might say nurse, nurses, or nursing.
We will keep the root word, nurs, and replace the possible endings with an asterisk: nurs*.
Another example: leadership.
An article about leadership might talk about leader, leaders, or leadership.
We will keep the root word, leader, and replace the possible endings with an asterisk: leader*.
Truncation In Action
When you break your topic down to keywords, it's likely that there are many versions of that word. Including all of the possible versions will help make sure you find articles on that topic. This example shows multiple forms of the word leader (leader, leaders, leadership):
Truncation means you shorten the word to the root, and replace the endings with an asterisk. In this example we have only the word leader*, and we will get the same results as before when we included all forms of that term.
In this example, we are starting with multiple forms of the word nurse (nurse, nurses, nursing):
And we can truncate the word to nurs* and get the same results:
Don't search for full sentences. Search with keywords and synonyms instead, and always check your spelling --For example, if my assignment question is 'How do libraries help college students?' I would search for the terms library, college or university or higher education, and students - this image shows how this can be put into the search box:
This example uses Boolean operators and truncation - two search tools you can use to improve your search technique.
Limiting Search Results
Many databases provide a menu next to each search box where a field limiter can be selected. Each search box has its own field menu, so you can search different fields for each of your terms.
This can help narrow down results by restricting your keywords to just the title, abstract, or subject tags.
Most databases also have a set of filters to narrow down your results.
In particular look for Published Date, Full Text, and Peer Reviewed as limits on your search results.
Citing Journal Articles
- Citation Basics Tutorial This link opens in a new window
This tutorial walks through the basics of finding the citing information in common source types like articles and websites.
In EBSCO (The LopeSearch)
In ProQuest
Locating the information for a journal article citation
For articles that don't have a citation tool, make sure you locate:
- The article title
- The Journal title
- The authors
- The volume, issue, and page numbers
- The date of publication
- The DOI if there is one
- The permalink for Turabian, or if requested for APA
Note that in a journal article citation, the journal title and the volume number are both italicized and that there is no space between the volume and the first parenthesis before the issue number.
Journal Article with a DOI (Digital Object Identifier)
Formats:
Author, A. A. (Year). Title of article. Journal Title, Volume (Issue), xxx–xxx. https://doi.org/...
Example:
Herbst-Damm, K. L., & Kulik, J. A. (2005). Volunteer support, marital status, and the survival times of terminally ill patients. Health Psychology , 24 , 225–229. https://doi.org/10.1037/0278-6133.24.2.225
Journal Article Without DOI and Retrieved From Internet or a database
- If no DOI is available, link directly to the article if you found it online. If you located an article without a DOI in a library database, end the reference at the page numbers. Do not add any link.
- APA 7 rules require the DOI always be included if there is one.
Format:
Example:
Sillick, T. J., & Schutte, N. S. (2006). Emotional intelligence and self-esteem mediate between perceived early parental love and adult happiness. E-Journal of Applied Psychology , 2 (2), 38-48. https://webarchive.nla.gov.au/awa/20070816020300/http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/51365/20070816-0000/ojs.lib.swin.edu.au/index.php/ejap/article/view/71/100.html
Using Permalinks
Journal article (online)
- Use database permalinks for the URL of an article from a database
- In notes, parts are separated by commas. In the bibliography they are separated by periods.
Format for Note:
Sample Note :
Example 1:
- Emerson B. Powery, “The Spirit, The Scripture(s), and the Gospel of Mark: Pneumatology and Hermeneutics in Narrative Perspective,” Journal of Pentecostal Theology 11, no. 2 (March 2003): 184, accessed March 18, 2009, http://booksandjournals.brillonline.com/content/journals/10.1177/096673690301100203.
- Powery, “The Spirit," 185.
- Powery, 185.
Example 2:
- Samuel Smith, “Milton’s Theology of the Cross: Substitution and Satisfaction in Christ’s Atonement,” Christianity and Literature 63, no. 1 (Autumn 2013): 8, accessed August 21, 2014, https://lopes.idm.oclc.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=94486066&site=ehost-live&scope=site.
- Smith, “Milton’s Theology,” 8.
- Smith, 8.
