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The Bluest Eye and Beasts of No Nation

Journal Articles

Articles are smaller in scope than books and can therefore focus on more particular aspects of a given topic. Since articles are faster to produce and publish, the most up-to-date research often appears in this form.

Articles in scholarly journals are peer-reviewed—that is to say, they have gone through an anonymous formal vetting and editing process—whereas articles in magazines or newspapers are accepted at the discretion of a single editor. In general, the most thoroughly researched articles on literary topics are found in scholarly journals: these are what you should most often cite in research essays. 

Key Journal Indexes

MLA International Bibliography
This is the standard bibliography for scholarly writing on literature, linguistics, drama, folklore, etc. Indexes over 4,000 international journals, as well as monographs, dissertations, and other publications. See help guide.

Literature Online
Searchable database of more than 350,000 works of English and American poetry, drama, and prose. Also indexes criticism from The Annual Bibliography of English Language and Literature (ABELL) and MLA International Bibliography (MLAIB), and includes the full text of 104 specialist literature journals. See help guide.

Literature Resource Center
The LRC is a complete literature reference database rich in biographical, bibliographical, and critical content.

Other Useful Indexes

Academic Search Complete
Is a multi-disciplinary index to more than 10,900 publications including peer-reviewed journals, conference proceedings, monographs and reports.

America History and Life
History of the United States and Canada from pre-historic times to the present

Black Studies Center
Black Studies Center is a fully cross-searchable gateway to Black Studies including scholarly essays, recent periodicals, historical newspaper articles, reference books and much more

Historical Abstracts
Covers the history of the world (excluding the United States and Canada) from 1450 to the present, including world history, military history, women's history, history of education and more.

Why Use an Index?

Use an article index to find journal articles on your topic, as well as other materials related to english literature.   

Some will contain the full text of journals but if the full text is not readily available, click on Get It Link Icon.

If the "Get It" link does not find anything, don't assume that the Library does not hold the item.  A search in Omni for the title of the journal (or book) might find it. 

If clicking on a full text link does not take you directly to the article, you will need to navigate a bit to get the article you want - depending on the resource provider.

Evaluate Articles

Articles are important in your research as they contain the most-up-to-date research in a given field and often focus on a particular aspect of a topic.

But not all journal articles will be useful for your essay so you will need to evaluate before you use them. 

Consult our guide, Distinguishing Scholary from Non Scholarly Periodicals, to discover the difference

Featured Titles

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African American Review
Black American Literature Forum
Black History Bulletin 
Black Scholar
Black Women, Gender & Families

Journal of African American History

Journal of African American Studies
Journal fo Black Studies