Journal articles provide original research or results of a study done in a specific subject area, are written by scholars, specialists, or researchers in the field, contain footnotes or cited reference pages, are intended for an academic or scholarly audience, and use technical or specialized vocabulary.
Peer-reviewed journals include only those articles that have been reviewed and/or qualified by a selected panel of acknowledged experts in the field of study covered by the journal. Articles are usually more narrowly focused than books and can run from a few to dozens of pages. To determine whether an article is scholarly or popular see Magazine or Scholarly Journal.
Papers in Social Work must follow the APA Style Guide for formatting the paper and citing the sources used.
Consult the Sac State Library's brief APA Style Guide which provides examples and links to other online sources of help.
The Sac State Library owns copies of the "Publication Manual of the APA" for students to use. Check it out from the Main Floor User Service Desk with the call number BF 76.7 P83 2020.
Use the search boxes in the Databases below to to correlate two or more aspects of your topic. For example:
Veteran*
AND
"Substance Abuse"
AND
Family or Families
The TRUNCATION symbol, *, instructs the Database to search for singular and plural versions of a word as well as variant spellings of a common rootword. For example, Veteran* will search for Veteran as well as Veterans.
The use of quote marks surrounding a phrase (e.g. "Substance Abuse") instructs the Database to search for these word together.
Click on the words FULL TEXT, HTML or PDF to read, print, email or download the entire article or non-article publication.
If the database does not display the words TEXT or PDF click on the 
icon.
A window opens which may provide one or more links to databases containing the online text of the article. For those articles that are only available in print or microform format, their location in the library will be listed. If the article is not available ("no full text available") SIGN IN, and then click the Illiad InterLibrary Loan link.
Google Scholar searches for references to scholarly articles and research papers. Sometimes the full text is posted online and linked, other times users will see a "Find It at Sac State" option next to the Google Scholar listing (see explaination above). Follow these instructions to configure Google Scholar to display the "Find It at Sac State" link. Except for the most simple queries, using Google Scholar Advanced Search is recommended.
When looking at an article, be sure to browse the bibliography or reference list and identify titles of interest.
These extra sources will quickly expand by many times the results of your initial search.
To see if the Sac State Library has an article cited in a bibliography, see below.
When you already know the name of the journal, year, volume, issue, etc., go to the Library Homepage http://library.csus.edu
--In the OneSearch box type the name of the journal IN QUOTES, not the title of the article.
--If the journal title appears, click on it and then click on the name of the database to get linked to the article.
NOTE: if the journal is in print format, it will show what years are shelved alphabetically on 3rd floor South.
To determine if the Sac State Library has access to a certain journal either online or in print, use the Journal Titles List.
Most articles can be obtained for free or for a low fee through Interlibrary Loan, which usually takes a few days. Log in with your SacLink username and and password to submit your request through the online form.
