Using databases will help you find citations to articles from scholarly journals, books, and other types of resources such as newspapers. When you are searching for scholarly journal articles, limit your database search to "peer reviewed", "refereed", or "scholarly journals" on the search screen, if possible, so that your search results will include only citations from scholarly journals. Most databases allow you to limit your results in that way. However, some databases such as Anthropology Plus are made up almost entirely of scholarly journals, so there is no need -- and sometimes no option -- to set such a limit on the search screen,
Basic Tips
Before you search a database, think about the terms that best describe your topic. You can combine terms with the word, and, if your topic relates to more than one or multiple concepts. Here are some example search statements:
pilgrimage and mecca
​ pilgrimage and mecca and rituals
cousin marriage
abortion and islam
​ girls and education and islam
ramadan and fasting
Other Search Tips
1. ​You can truncate terms with an asterisk * to find variations on the spelling of a word.
For example, veil* will find all words with the root, veil, such as veil, veiling, or veiled.
Another example: muslim* = muslim or muslims
​ Another example: islam* = islam or islamic
2. You can also string terms together with the word, or, that have the same or similar meanings to one of your primary
topics. For example, if you are interested in "veiling", you could construct a search statement that several terms
related to types of coverings such as veil* or abaya or burqa or niquab or hijab
3. Here are some examples of search statements that you might enter into a database:
veil* and islam*
(veil* or hijab) and islam*
(veil* or hijab or burqa) and (islam* or muslim*)
girls and education and (islam* or muslim*)
ramadan and fasting
(pilgrimage or hajj) and mecca
