ECO 110/121/122: Elements of Economics; Macroeconomics; Microeconomics

Tips for Searching... 

• Keep your search terms simple. For example: panic of 1873, capital investments, financial risk management, fiscal policy, unemployment, etc. Using sentences or long phrases can result in poor results.
• Better search terms: You'll see every article is tagged with subjects describing the article. Try matching your search terms to these subject terms to get better results.
• Narrow your results: You will often receive hundreds (if not thousands) of articles in your search, focus your results to make it MUCH easier to find what you need! Here's two ways to do this...
  1. Use the left column to "Refine Results":  
     • Selecting "Available in Print + Online" limits the list to articles you can access now.
     • Publication date can limit articles to a specific time period.
     • Source type allows you to limit the search to just magazines, academic journals, books, etc.
     • Subject shows common subjects within your search.
     • Click "show more" for additional options within each category.
  2. "and": Use the word "and" to connect two ideas in your search such as "capital investments and financial risk management" or "great recession and fiscal policy" It will limit your search to only articles that have both terms in common.
  3. You can use both of these methods together!
• Email articles: When you click an article title, you'll see "email" in the right column. This method will include the option to include an APA or MLA citation!

Here is how many academic articles are reviewed prior to publication

Professors and researchers share their latest work with professionals in their disciplines via academic journals. Journal editors choose research to publish that has the greatest impact in those fields.

A research article is peer-reviewed prior to publication by experts in the author's field. The peer reviewers rigorously read and analyze the research and the writing for errors and missing information. The author is given the opportunity to correct any problems or to withdraw the article from consideration for publication.

This peer-review process is valued by professionals in the field – from psychiatrists and psychologists to professors and therapists -- who count on academic journal articles to stay current with the latest developments in their fields.

In contrast, popular publications, such as magazines, are written in a more conversational style for the general public. Articles include eye-catching titles and content designed to sell the publications and attract additional advertisers.

For example, the popular magazine Psychology Today published an article titled "Revenge of the Introverts" with tips on what not to say to introverts. The peer-reviewed Journal of Personality published "Explaining the Extraversion/Positive Effect Relation: Sociability Cannot Account for Extraverts' Greater Happiness," including 30 pages of research data and charts.

Not every article in every academic journal is peer-reviewed. However, when searching for articles via the library Web site, you may choose to select peer-reviewed articles as part of your search.

Here are other things to look for in peer-reviewed articles:

• Research data is often shown in charts and tables.
• Information is cited, usually with many references or footnotes.
• The authors' credentials are included.
• The language may be appropriately technical.
• The printed pages are generally plain and often have little or no advertising.