Evidence - Library Research - B.E.E. - An Introduction to Research

Peer Reviewed Research

Most of your professors will require you to use peer reviewed research for your assignments. Peer reviewed means that other experts in the field have reviewed the research prior to publication.

Library Collection

To search the library catalog, click here.

Some helpful tips:

If you're looking for an item in our collection, make sure you check the "Bethany College Wallerstedt Library" box on the left side menu.
The catalog also searches our databases, so if you are looking for a physical book from our collection, check the "Print Book" box on the left side menu.

Just because a book is in the library collection does not automatically mean it is a good source for your project. Practice lateral reading with your source.

Google your source - what is being said?
When was it published?
Who is the publisher?
Who is the author and what are their credentials?
Is there a bibliography? If so, what are the listed sources like?

Library Databases

Databases are highly important to find peer-reviewed scholarly research.

Academic Search Premier Designed specifically for academic institutions, Academic Search Premier is a multi-disciplinary full text database containing full text for more than 4,600 journals, including nearly 3,900 peer-reviewed titles. In addition to the full text, this database offers indexing and abstracts for more than 8,500 journals. This scholarly collection offers information in nearly every area of academic study including: computer sciences, engineering, physics, chemistry, language and linguistics, arts & literature, medical sciences, ethnic studies, and many more. Academic Search Premier is an enormous collection of the most valuable peer-reviewed full text journals, offering critical information from many sources unique to this database. PDF backfiles to 1975 or further are available for well over one hundred journals, and searchable cited references are provided for more than 1,000 titles. The majority of full text titles are available in native (searchable) PDF, or scanned-in-color.

Academic Search Premier is a general database that covers a variety of subject areas. This database is a great place to start, then as you progress to upper level courses, you may move on to more specialized databases.

There are 50+ databases available in EBSCOhost. Some of the other specialized databases are:

PsycINFO PsycINFO® is the American Psychological Association's (APA) renowned resource for abstracts of scholarly journal articles, book chapters, books, and dissertations.It is the largest resource devoted to peer-reviewed literature in behavioral science and mental health, and contains over 3 million citations and summaries dating as far back as the 1600s, with one of the highest DOI matching rates in the publishing industry. Ninety-nine percent of its content is peer-reviewed. Included is information on the psychological aspects of related fields such as medicine, psychiatry, nursing, sociology, education, pharmacology, technology, linguistics, anthropology, business, law and others. Journal coverage, which spans from the 1800s to the present, includes international material selected from around 2,500 periodicals in dozens of languages. PsycINFO is indexed with controlled vocabulary from APA's Thesaurus of Psychological Index Terms®.
MLA International Bibliography MLA International Bibliography offers a detailed bibliography of journal articles, books and dissertations. Produced by the Modern Language Association (MLA), the electronic version of the bibliography dates back to the 1920's and contains over 2.3 million citations from more than 4,400 journals & series, and 1,000 book publishers. The indexed materials coverage is international and includes almost 60 titles from J-STOR's language and literature collection as well as links to full text. This database includes journal abbreviations and acronyms for almost 3,500 titles, with full journal names standardized and ISSNs attached. MLA International Bibliography also contains nearly 11,000 subject names and terms. Subjects consist of literature, language and linguistics, folklore, literary theory & criticism, dramatic arts, as well as the historical aspects of printing and publishing. Listings on rhetoric and composition and the history, theory and practice of teaching language and literature are also included. In addition to the bibliography, the database includes the MLA Directory of Periodicals; the association's proprietary thesaurus used to assign descriptors to each record in the bibliography; and a proprietary, searchable directory of noted authors' names, with links to brief descriptive notes.
Legal Collection Centered on the discipline of law and legal topics, Legal Collection is a collection of respected, scholarly peer-reviewed publications including law journals, documents, and case studies. This database is an authoritative source for information on current issues, studies, thoughts and trends of the legal world. Legal Collection offers full text for more than 300 of the world’s best law journals. This database provides information centered on the discipline of law and legal topics such as criminal justice, international law, federal law, organized crime, medical, labor & human resource law, ethics, the environment and much more. Full text journals contained in this database include: American Journal of Criminal Law, California Law Review, and many more. In addition to full text, indexing and abstracts are provided for all journals in the collection. The majority of full text titles are available in native (searchable) PDF, or scanned-in-color. Full text information in this database dates as far back as 1965.

Database Search Tips

Key Terms are important before you begin your database searching. What is the terminology connected to your topic?
Boolean logic happens when you connect two key terms with the words "and", "or", or "not".
When you find an article that works for your topic, review the subject terms used by the database. Can you use any of those terms to refine your search?
Abstracts are a summary of the article. Always read the summary to gauge whether, or not the article is applicable to your research.
Use the left side navigation to help narrow down your search results (click "peer reviewed", narrow the date, etc.).
If you need to email an article to yourself, use your Bethany email.

eBook Central

eBook Central (formerly known as eBrary) is our eBook collection.

To use the resources in eBook Central, make sure you set up an account. You may have to wait until your request to make an account is approved.
You can check out books through eBook Central, but if you just need a chapter, you can always download, or print the chapter. There are limits to the number of pages you can print and download.
To download a book, you have to choose what type of device you will be using to read the eBook (ex. laptop, phone, etc.). You also have to download Adobe Digital Editions if you're using a laptop. You have the option of checking out the book for 1 day, 7 days, 14 days, or 21 days.

Interlibrary Loan

Need a resource we don't have?

Through interlibrary loan, the librarians have the ability to request materials from other libraries.

Please submit an interlibrary loan request by using the Interlibrary Loan Form,

or send an e-mail with the resource citation information to torresb@bethanylb.edu.

B.E.E. - An Introduction to Research: Evidence - Library Research