Ready to make your video?
- Media Production GuideEverything you need about actually making the video! Info about equipment reservations, software, using images and video in your project, how to cite your sources in a video, and more.
Look Up Articles, Pay $0.00
You found an article but it says you have to pay for it. Do this instead:
- University of Minnesota Libraries Home PageFind books, scores, recordings, magazines, journals, movies, and more in the University of Minnesota Libraries catalog.
If it doesn't show up, THAT'S OK. Interlibrary Loan will get the paper for you. Click the link below, choose the article form, and fill out all the article information. They'll email you the PDF! For FREE!!!
- InterLibrary Loan & Digital DeliveryInterlibrary Loan (ILL) & Digital Delivery offers access to materials needed for courses and research, including materials not currently available within the University of Minnesota Libraries, AND digital copies of articles and book chapters from our print and microform collections. Free for currently-affiliated University students, faculty, and staff.
Scientific magazines
Look up your topic in these professional magazines...
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Elements from the Geochemical Society
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EOS from the American Geophysical Union
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Geology Today from the Geologists' Association and the Geological Society of London
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BAMS from the American Meteorological Society (or view and search open access articles)
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Archeology Magazine from the Archeological Institute of America
UMN Library Databases
Look up your topic in these databases. You'll find books, articles, and reports that match your search terms. Use these instead of random Googling.
The Oxford Companion to Archaeology
ISBN: 9780199739219
Journals
You can also look up your topic in these major journals...
- Nature Very Important interdisciplinary journal.
- Science Another Very Important interdisciplinary journal.
- Geophysical Research Letters Important journal that covers most geoscience disciplines. From the American Geophysical Union.
- American Antiquity from the Society for American Archeology (see also Latin American Antiquity)
- Current Anthropology From the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research.
- Annual Reviews are journals that publish review articles (overviews of a topic).
- You can also search Web of Science or Scopus for a topic and filter results for review articles.
Basics of library research
Pay attention to the author of the source and the audience of the source.
That will help you decide whether the source is
- Journalism
- Science outreach
- Science news (for scientists)
- Scholarship
You should prioritize primary and secondary sources.
- New research in a reputable journal
- Government documents
- Research reports
- News reports filed by reporters (not analysis or opinion)
- Interviews
A secondary source is an authoritative analysis of a primary source.
- Review articles
- Scholarly analysis
- Textbooks
- Dissertations
Your sources should be written or reviewed by an EXPERT IN THE FIELD.
Like a scientist or journalist.
- Look up words, phrases, or concepts you don't know.
- Find more information about the authors of the sources. Is it written by someone who does research in that field? What is their field/department? Is it written by a science writer, aka a journalist who reports on research?
How to read and understand scientific articles
Last Updated: Jan 25, 2023 12:00 PM
URL: https://libguides.umn.edu/ESCI/3002