Research guides: PD11 Research Guide: Find articles

Use research databases to find articles

Not sure where to start? The databases below cover many disciplines including math, life sciences, business, technology, economics, health, medicine, and physical sciences.

EBSCOhost
A platform with many databases of journal indexes and abstracts, as well as some with full text
Coverage: varies
This online platform hosts multiple resources.

Note: Offline digital lending: Requires Adobe Digital Editions.
ProQuest
A platform with many databases of journal indexes and abstracts, as well as some with full text
Coverage: Varies
This online platform hosts multiple resources.
Scopus
Peer-reviewed literature from scientific journals, books and conference proceedings, covering the fields of science, technology, medicine, social sciences, and arts and humanities.
Coverage: 1966 - present
Web of Science
Articles and citations in the sciences, social sciences, arts, and humanities.
Coverage: Varies
Web of Science is comprised of several databases. The Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI) covers journals in the medical, physical and natural sciences, and engineering fields. The entire database extends back to 1899. The Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI) covers journals in the social sciences. The entire database extends back to 1898. The Arts & Humanities Citation Index (AHCI) covers journals in the arts and humanities. It also selectively covers relevant items from science and technical journals. The entire database extends back to 1975.

IEEE Xplore Digital Library
Resources for computer science, electrical engineering, electronics engineering, and mechanical engineering.
Coverage: 1988 - present
IEEE Xplore provides access to journals, annual conference proceedings, and IEEE technical standards.
INSPEC Archive
The INSPEC Archive 1898 - 1968 covers published literature in physics, electrical engineering, and computing and control.
Coverage: 1898 - 1968
Synthesis Digital Library
Currently published by Springer Nature, was Morgan & Claypool until 2022.

Find electronic documents (lectures) for the research, development, and educational community in engineering and computer science.
Coverage: varies

ACM Digital Library
Conference proceedings, books, articles, magazines, newsletters, and multimedia titles relating to computing and information technology.
Coverage: 1947 - present
ACM Digital Library contains bibliographic information on ACM publications since 1947 and includes full-text of documents where available. Works published by affiliated organizations are included on a selected basis.
IEEE Xplore Digital Library
Resources for computer science, electrical engineering, electronics engineering, and mechanical engineering.
Coverage: 1988 - present
IEEE Xplore provides access to journals, annual conference proceedings, and IEEE technical standards.
MathSciNet
Articles in mathematics, computer science, statistics, and econometrics, as well as applications to science and engineering.
Coverage: 1940 - present
Produced by the American Mathematical Society, MathSciNet provides reviews, with abstracts, to the world's literature in mathematics and related areas. MathSciNet is compiled from the print equivalents, Mathematical Reviews and Current Mathematical Publications. Reviews are classified according to the Mathematics Subject Classification.
zbMATH Open
zbMATH Open (formerly known as Zentralblatt MATH) indexes research in pure
and applied mathematics.
From the European Mathematical Society (EMS), the Heidelberg Academy of
Sciences and Humanities, and FIZ Karlsruhe, zbMATH Open contains around 4.2
million bibliographic entries with reviews or abstracts drawn from more than
3,000 journals and book series, and some 190,000 books. Coverage starts in
the 18th century, is complete from 1868 to the present day, due to the
integration of the "Jahrbuch über die Fortschritte der Mathematik" database.
zbMATH Open has been available as an open access database since January 2021.

ADS: Astrophysics Data System
Digital library portal for researchers in Astronomy and Physics. Find Abstracts and full-text of major astronomy and physics publications.
Coverage: 1975 - present
To access articles paid for by Waterloo: create an account, open your "Settings", click "Library Link Server" and add Waterloo. Look for "My Institution" in the paper's record to be linked to full text.
The ADS maintains three bibliographic databases containing more than 9.2 million records: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Physics, and arXiv e-prints. The main body of data in the ADS consists of bibliographic records, which are searchable through highly customizable query forms, and full-text scans of much of the astronomical literature which can be browsed or searched via our full-text search interface. Integrated in its databases, the ADS provides access and pointers to a wealth of external resources, including electronic articles, data catalogs and archives.
American Physical Society (APS) Journals
Interface for searching articles in leading international physics research journals.
Coverage: Varies
PubMed
Articles in medicine, life sciences, animal sciences, plant sciences, biomedical research, medical devices, nursing, biotechnology, the healthcare system, and the preclinical sciences.
Coverage: 1950 - present
PubMed is comprised of citations for biomedical literature from MEDLINE, life science journals, and online books. Citations may include links to full-text content from PubMed Central and publisher websites.
Reaxys
Authoritative information in organic, inorganic and organometallic chemistry.
Coverage: 1779 - present
SPIE Digital Library
Articles, conference proceedings, books, dissertations in optics, photonics, imaging, lasers, sensing, and nanotechnology.
Coverage: 1990 - present
The SPIE Digital Library provides access to technical papers from SPIE Journals, Conference Proceedings, and books.

ABI/INFORM
Articles on business and management from U.S. and international journals and trade magazines, including company histories, competitive intelligence, and product development.
Coverage: 1971 - present
Includes scholarly journals, trade magazines, working papers, market research, and company profiles.
Canadian Periodical Index Quarterly (CPI.Q)
Full text articles on a range of topics from Canadian-focused journals, magazines, newspapaers and reference sources.
Coverage: 1988 - present
CBCA (Canadian Business & Current Affairs)
Full text of journal, magazine, and newspaper articles relating to business, culture, current events, education, language, agriculture, history, and politics in Canada.
Coverage: 1982 - present
Factiva
News, business magazines, trade journals, newsletters, and television and radio transcripts.
Coverage: 1970s - present. Varies by publication
Factiva forbids storing or using search results in research applications such as data mining or trend analysis.
Note: If you are at a public workstation you will be asked for your WatIAM (Quest) User ID and Password.
Nexis Uni
News, legal, and business sources from around the world, Find news, legislation, case law, statutes, company profiles, market & industry reports.
Coverage: 1970s - present
Note: If you are at a public workstation you will be asked for your WatIAM (Quest) User ID and Password.

Search strategies

Boolean Searching
This module will introduce you to Boolean logic and Boolean searching, and will explain how the three Boolean search operators (AND, OR, NOT) affect search results.
Special Characters for Database Searches
This infographic explains how to efficiently search for phrases and words with multiple endings or different spellings.
Advanced Database Searching in Scopus
Interactive module that covers advanced searching strategies in the Scopus database. Search concepts covered include: search fields, wildcards, truncation, proximity operators, stop words, phrase searching, citation searching.

Finding research databases for other disciplines

Research guides at Waterloo
Guides are created for each department on campus and list subject resources for each discipline. Find research in Computer Science, Engineering, Physics, Biology, Business, Psychology, Education, and more.

Research guides by subject

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