ENWR 1510/2510: Writing About Attention
Librarian
Academic or Scholarly Sources
Academic (or scholarly or peer-reviewed) sources are written for other scholars. They often report on original, empirical research conducted by the authors. To be considered an academic source, articles or books must go through the scholarly peer-review process.
The links below take you to databases that allow you to search for academic sources in a particular discipline or field. You can also use Virgo to find academic sources: search, navigate to the "articles" tab, and click the "peer reviewed" checkbox on the left side of the page.
- APA PsycINFO This link opens in a new windowThis database searches journal articles and books about psychology and related disciplines including medicine, psychiatry, nursing, sociology, education.
- SocINDEX with Full Text This link opens in a new windowThis database searches academic sources related to sociology, encompassing all sub-disciplines and closely related areas of study.
- All Databases A-ZThis is the list of every database the UVA Library subscribes to. You can filter by subject.
Popular Sources
Popular sources are written for a general audience and are often published in magazines and newspapers, though they can also include books, social media, blogs, and more. They can be accessible entry points into researching your topic, and they can point you towards more academic sources like academic journal articles and books.
The links below take you to search in the UVA Library's holdings of individual magazines and newspapers. To search across multiple publications, search in Virgo, go to the "Articles" tab, and limit your Source Type to magazines, trade publications, and news.
- Psychology TodayClick "Search within this publication", then enter your search terms.
Psychology Today is a popular magazine focused on psychology and human behavior. - New ScientistClick "Search within this publication", then enter your search terms.
New Scientist is a popular science magazine covering all aspects of science and technology. - Scientific AmericanClick "Search within this publication", then enter your search terms.
Scientific American is an American popular science magazine. Many scientists, including Albert Einstein and Nikola Tesla, have contributed articles to it, with more than 150 Nobel Prize-winners being featured since its inception. - Wired magazineWired is an American website and magazine that focuses on how emerging technologies affect culture, the economy, and politics.
- The VergeThe Verge is an American technology news website.
- VoxVox is an American news and media website.
- The Atlantic MonthlyClick "Search within this publication", then enter your search terms.
The Atlantic is an American magazine that features articles on politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science.
- New Yorker This link opens in a new windowThe New Yorker is a weekly magazine with a mix of reporting on national and international politics and culture, profiles of people, humor and cartoons, fiction and poetry, and reviews and criticism of books, movies, theatre, classical and popular music, television, art, and fashion.
- New York Times This link opens in a new windowOnline access to the New York Times includes full entry to the archives from 1851 to present day. Features include Spanish and Chinese editions plus hundreds of articles published in other languages and access to The New York Times Magazine. There is a 5 PDF download limit per day. Users must be On-Grounds or have their VPN turned on and then will have to create an account with NYTimes. Access does not include Cooking, Games/Crosswords, or The Athletic.
- Wall Street Journal This link opens in a new windowAccess to WSJ.com, the WSJ App, and the WSJ Archives. Students will have access until their graduation date; faculty and staff must renew using this link annually.
You must create an account using your UVA email address.
- The EconomistClick "Search within this publication", then enter your search terms.
The Economist is a British newspaper that publishes stories on topics that include economics, business, geopolitics, technology and culture.
This article looks great...how do I access it?
While doing your research, you may come across a citation or reference to a source that looks promising, but you're not sure how to read the whole thing. Here's how you find that article in the UVA Library's holdings (see "Access Specific Articles You Found Elsewhere" page of this guide for a more detailed walk through of this process).
- Make sure you have as much citation information as possible, especially where the source is published (e.g. journal title) and its publication date.
- Search for the publication title (the title of the journal, magazine, newspaper, etc.) in the Journal Finder. Do NOT search for the article title here.
- Match your article's publication date with the Library's holdings, and click a link that includes your article's publication date.
- You may or may not encounter an intermediary page here. If you see a link that says "Search within this publication", click that.
- Search for your article's title.
If you search for your publication title in the Journal Finder in step 2 and don't get any results OR the Library doesn't have access to the journal in the date range in which your article was published, you can use Interlibrary Loan to request that we get a copy of your article for you (Interlibrary Loan tutorial).
Helpful Resources
- Reading an Academic ArticleAcademic or scholarly sources can be challenging to read at first; this 10-15 minute interactive tutorial helps you break them down.
- Scholarly vs Popular Source ChecklistThis checklist helps you determine if a source is popular or scholarly/academic.
- Becoming a Scholar tutorialThis tutorial breaks down the differences between popular and scholarly sources and covers how to find scholarly sources using Library resources. It takes 10-15 minutes to complete.
- How to Find a Book in the Library (video)This 4-minute video walks you through the process of looking up a book in Virgo, finding it on the shelf, and checking it out.
- Zotero Walk-ThroughInteractive tutorial for using Zotero, with different options for different levels of prior knowledge.