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English 1: Finding Articles

Accessing Articles

The SMFA Library provides access to a range of serial publications, from newspapers to popular magazines to scholarly peer-reviewed journals, in both print and electronic formats. Article databases are fully accessible on campus, and accessible off-campus with your Library barcode. Don't have a barcode? Stop by the Library (3rd floor, B side of the Fenway building) and set up an account! 

If you have any issues with database access, contact us at 617-369-3650 or library@smfa.edu. Please note that if your Library account has expired or if you have accrued overdue fines, you may be blocked from off-campus database access. 

Contact us!

Please feel free to get in touch with a librarian at any stage of your research process. Stop by the library (located on the third floor of the B side of the Fenway building), or get in touch directly with:

Ashley Peterson

  • apeterson@smfa.edu
  • 617-369-3653

Darin Murphy

  • dmurphy@smfa.edu
  • 617-369-3651

Circulation Desk (evening and weekend contact)

  • library@smfa.edu
  • 617-369-3650

Can't find it at the SMFA?

If you can't find what you need at the SMFA Library, we may be able to obtain a copy for you elsewhere.

Visit our Interlibrary Loan page, or contact Lauren Kimball-Brown for more information:

  • lkimball-brown@smfa.edu
  • 617-369-3971

Why Articles?

For some topics, books aren't enough. Sometimes what you're researching is too new to be the subject of a published volume, or there may be new thinking about a topic that is so far, or may only ever be, expressed in articles.

Scholarly vs. Popular

You will probably want to use a combination of scholarly and popular sources to find articles, but keep in mind that scholarly publications will give your work more weight and credibility. Here is a breakdown of the differences between scholarly and popular publications:

  Scholarly Popular
Cover
 Audience  Academics, professionals in a given field  General public
 Article  authors  Unpaid experts in their fields (generally people with PhDs  and other terminal degrees)  Paid journalists or other  professional writers
 Editors  Other unpaid experts and specialists, by a process called  peer review  Paid professional editors
 Funding  source  Usually a university press or professional organization (The  MIT Press, in the case of October)  Advertising 
 Citations?   Required  Not required, are seldom  included

 

 

Article Resources

Here are some good, all-purpose places to start finding popular and scholarly articles.

Popular

SMFA Library print periodicals: We subscribe to several magazines and newspapers on a range of art and cultural topics. The newest issues must be read in-Library, and back issues may be checked out for 24 hours.

Scholarly

For a complete list of all databases available via the SMFA Library see our Database List.

Why can't I just use Google to find articles?

Short answer: you actually can. Google Scholar is a quick way to search scholarly literature from a range of disciplines. It can be a good way to find article citations, though in almost every case you will not be able to freely access the article itself. 

Using Library resources to find articles offers the following advantages:

  • The content is free. The Library pays subscription fees for our databases so that you can freely access them. Articles found through Google or Google Scholar are usually blocked by a pay wall, and as long as you're a student or affiliated with a college you should never (and we mean NEVER) pay to access scholarly content. Let a librarian help you find it for free instead! 
  • Searching is more efficient. Database interfaces may be a little tough to get used to, but you are searching a much more select range of content that is more likely to give you relevant results. Google may cast a bigger net, but you will have to do a LOT more sifting to find information you can use. 
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