LibGuides at USA: NAS 101: Native American Cultures: How to Find Journals and Articles

What are Scholarly Articles and Where do I Find Them?

Scholarly articles are papers written by (usually multiple) experts in a subject and published in academic journals. The experts submit the papers they have written to be published in academic journals. These papers focus on specific topics and may be written about new research studies, case studies, reviews of previous research, or other research-related topics.

Academic journals are run by editors and published by publishing companies, universities, or professional associations. Most academic journals use a peer-review process to review articles for quality. Most academic journals have scopes, and they only publish articles that fit within the journal's scope. An academic journal that doesn't have a peer-review review process or has a very broad scope has warning signs of being low-quality.

A database is a collection of many different academic journals that can all be searched at once. Databases allow you to limit your search by certain filters, usually including by peer-review status. You can filter out likely lower quality research.

You can search a database by creating and submitting a search query. Based off your search query, you will get a list of articles (and other resources) as results.

Recommended Search Tools

Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window
Multi-disciplinary full-text database, with more than 8,500 full-text periodicals, including more than 7,300 peer-reviewed journals. In addition to full text, this database offers indexing and abstracts for more than 12,500 journals and a total of more than 13,200 publications including monographs, reports, conference proceedings, etc.
AnthroSource This link opens in a new window
JSTOR This link opens in a new window
A collection of full-text journals in which the latest issues are at least 3 to 5 years old, but the holdings often extend back many years. The journals may be searched separately or by discipline.
Wiley Online Library This link opens in a new window
Access is to 1997 to current. Backfiles available for the Psychology, Business & Management, Biotechnology, Biochemistry & Biophysics, and Earth & Environmental Sciences collections.
Native American Tribal Histories This link opens in a new window
"Official record of encounters between Indigenous peoples and American Territorial officials as chronicled by the Bureau of Indian Affairs."

Recommended Native American Culture Journals

American Indian Culture and Research Journal
This premiere journal in Native American studies, publishes book reviews, literature, and original scholarly papers on a wide range of issues in the fields of history, anthropology, geography, sociology, political science, health, literature, law, education, and the arts.
The American Indian Quarterly
This journal includes diverse voices and perspectives spanning a variety of academic disciplines. The common thread is AIQ’s commitment to publishing work that contributes to the development of American Indian studies as a field and to the sovereignty and continuance of American Indian nations and cultures.
NAIS: Journal of the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association
As the journal of the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association, Native American and Indigenous Studies (NAIS) is based in North America but seeks to bridge the distances across the Indigenous world. The editors of NAIS are committed to creating a dynamic intellectual space for the communication and dissemination of excellent scholarship related to Indigenous Studies.
Studies in American Indian Literatures
This journal is the only one in the United States that focuses exclusively on American Indian literatures. With a wide scope of scholars and creative contributors, this journal is on the cutting edge of activity in the field. SAIL defines "literatures" broadly to include all written, spoken, and visual texts created by Native peoples.