Research Guides: COAD 1000: Freshman Seminar: Articles

What's a 'Scholarly Journal'?

For many course assignments, you will be required to use scholarly journals, also called "academic' journals, 'peer-reviewed' journals, or 'refereed' journals. Here are some characteristics that distinguish scholarly journals from more popular magazines (see especially tips in red):

Scholarly Journals

Audience is made up of scholars, researchers, students of the field
Written by specialists in the field, usually scholars with Ph.D.s -- are signed and often include author's credentials.
Appearance is serious and sober, with few colors, few or no advertisements
Coverage is original research results and scholarship
Written in technical, scholarly language; may be reviewed or "refereed" before publication by an editorial board or outside scholars
Articles are usually at least 7-10 pages in length
Frequency is usually quarterly or semi-annual
References are cited and usually includes a bibliography and/or footnotes
Examples are American Journal of Physical Anthropology; Journal of World Anthropology; Social Anthropology

Suggested Databases

Use Databases to see a list of article databases organized by subject, or try one of the broad multidisciplinary databases below.

Tips for searching in our databases:

Look for ways to limit your search results to Scholarly (Peer Reviewed) Journals
Look for an option to sort your search results by Relevancy
Click Find It! button for help locating full text of an article

JSTOR This link opens in a new window
An extensive archive of American and international scholarly journals and books in the humanities, sciences, philosophy, and social sciences.  Provides downloadable PDFs. Content spans 1800 – 2 years ago.
ProQuest Research Library This link opens in a new window
A broad collection of scholarly journals, trade publications, and popular magazines in business, the humanities, science and technology, and the arts. Designed to be accessible for researchers of varying levels of experience. Intended for preliminary research and inquiry.

Try OneSearch!

One Search is a great place to start your research. It allows you to simultaneously search through a variety of databases and the ECU Libraries' catalog.

Image Websites

Library of Congress
This is your gateway to a growing treasury of digitized photographs, manuscripts, maps, sound recordings, motion pictures, and books
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The Library of Congress is the nation's oldest federal cultural institution and serves as the research arm of Congress. It is also the largest library in the world, with millions of books, recordings, photographs, maps and manuscripts in its collections.
National Archives
The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is the nation's record keeper. It contains historical documents and photographs chronicling the evolution of human and civil rights in America.
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Images of famous, pivotal, groundbreaking and odd moments in American history, eyewitness accounts, 20th century photos, panoramic photography, maps, political cartoons, women, Watergate, Depression era Federal art, elections and campaigns, presidential collections, Southeastern region archives, people at war, posters from World War II, work and workplaces and much more
The Commons - Flickr
The Commons was launched as a pilot in partnership with the Library of Congress to increase access to publicly held photography collections.
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Library of Congress, Smithsonian Institution, US National Archives, Brooklyn Museum, George Eastman House, National Media Museum, National Maritime Museum, Bibliothèque de Toulouse, New York Public Library, State Libraries of Queensland and New South Wales, Swedish National Heritage Board, National Galleries of Scotland, Library of Virginia, State Library of Florida, Musée McCord, Getty Research Institute, Brooklyn Museum, Nationaal Archief (Netherlands)
NOAA Photo Library
The NOAA collection spans centuries of time and much of the natural world from the center of the Earth to the surface of the Sun.
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The NOAA Photo Library has been built so as to capture the work, observations, and studies that are carried on by the scientists, engineers, commissioned officers, and administrative personnel that make up this complex and scientifically diverse agency. Because of this broad base of scientific expertise and the geographic range under which NOAA science and observations are conducted, the NOAA collection includes thousands of weather and space images, hundreds of images of our shores and coastal seas, and thousands of marine species images ranging from the great whales to the most minute plankton.
NASA Image Gallery
NASA's Gallery includes images of aircraft, historical research, planetary exploration, space related science, satellites, Hubble Space Telescope, Cassini Mission and more.

Image Databases

ARTstor This link opens in a new window
An extensive compilation of downloadable, high resolution images. Content encompasses art, architecture, photography, the humanities, and social sciences. Searchable by gallery, museum, subject, period, region, and keyword. Features include zooming and side-by-side comparison. Pop-up blockers must be disabled to view images.


One Search for articles, books, and other resources from the ECU Libraries' collection.

COAD 1000: Freshman Seminar: Articles

What's a 'Scholarly Journal'?

Suggested Databases

Try OneSearch!

Image Websites

Image Databases

Google Scholar