Whittemore Library: Researching Controversial Social & Political Issues: Detailed, Deep-Dive Info

From: Journal Articles, 'Grey Literature', & Scholary Books

Ram Search
Run your topic search, then limit your results to the Academic Journals source type. NOTE: If you want to be guaranteed to have only peer-reviewed journal results, select the Peer reviewed limiter at the top of the results page instead.
Our Databases
The majority of our databases contain scholarly articles from academic journals, and allow you to limit your search to see only those results, and sometimes to see only peer-reviewed journal articles
Periodial (Journal) Search
Run your topic search. NOTE: If you want to be guaranteed to have only peer-reviewed journal results, select the Peer reviewed in the Limit your results area on the left of the results page.
Google Scholar
Run your topic search - all results will be limited to scholarly content (mostly journal articles). When it is available, a link to free, online full text will be seen to the right of each result. If not available right there, run the full article title in Ram Search to see if the Library has it.
Semantic Scholar
AI-assisted search of a large, online index of academic articles (especially STEM), including Google Scholar's index, plus more. If not available right there, run the full article title in Ram Search to see if the Library has it. Free Account creation and log-in thereafter required.
Your Favorite Internet Search Engine
'Grey Literature' means scholarly / academic info that has NOT yet been published in a peer-reviewed journal or book, including items such as: Theses, Dissertations, Conference Proceedings, Research Posters, White Papers, Reports, Working Papers, Slide Presentations, etc. Add the name of the type of gray literature you are seeking (e.g.: report) to your search query.

Physical Location:

Back issues of our print journals are shelved on the Lower Mezzanine level
Some of our periodicals have back issues stored in the form of Microfiche or Microfilm (little films run through a reader that lets you see the pages on a lit screen).

What they're useful for:

Reports of primary research being done in a discipline
Other researchers' reactions towards published research reports
Opinion pieces discussing current developments in that field
Secondary articles which profile the development and progress of specific lines of inquiry