Research Guides: Environmental Sciences 101: Research Databases

Where to begin your research for scholarly / peer reviewed articles

Research Database Exploration Activity

Research Process Exploration Activity
To be used after database instruction.

Background Information

Gale E-books This link opens in a new window
Formerly Gale Virtual Reference Center. Find articles in encyclopedias, almanacs, and specialized reference sources for multidisciplinary research. A great place to search for background information on any topic.

Find Scholarly/Peer Reviewed Articles

Welcome to Using Peer-Reviewed journal articles in the library research databases.
Scholarly, peer-reviewed, academic, and referred are all terms used by your instructors for finding high-quality information based on research.
Let’s take a look at a search in Academic OneFile database.
For this explanation, I am searching for climate change effects on pollinators
You can at this time limit your results to only retrieve peer-reviewed articles by checking the peer-reviewed journals box.
I am also limiting to full-text.
Click search
My results are only peer-reviewed journals
How do you know? By the caption Applied Limiters here in blue buttons and also on the right side Filter Your Results section.
Notice the two checked boxes.
This database uses Academic Journals in reference to limit to peer-reviewed articles published in journals.
Let’s take a closer look at the article Warming induces short-term phenological shifts in pollinator-plant interactions
This article is published in the PlosOne.
Click on the journal title also known as the Source.
You are taken to Publication section of the database about PlosOne
Format Magazine/Journal
Audience Academic
And most importantly under peer-reviewed, it says yes.
So this journal is a peer-reviewed publication.
Another option is to search the web but journal name PlosOne and look for the editorial policy on the publisher’s website.
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/journal-information
I have the journal information page open, here you will find under Fair and Robust Review - PLOS ONE staff and our expert board of Academic Editors work together to ensure that the peer review process is fair, fast..
You can also click on the editorial board link, this is the list of editors for PlosOne who are experts in the field.
If you need help using databases or finding articles, reach out to a WCC Librarian! You will find the chat tool embedded in some of the databases for immediate help. Otherwise visit us in-person, send us an email chat, or meet us on Zoom with Book-a-Librarian. All available from the library homepage.

What is a Scholarly/Peer Reviewed Article?

Peer review is a well-accepted indicator of quality scholarship. It is the process by which an author's peers read a paper submitted for publication. A number of recognized researchers in the field will evaluate an article and recommend its publication, revision, or rejection. Articles accepted for publication through a peer review process implicitly meet the discipline's expected standards of expertise.

Scholarly articles are peer reviewed by experts in a given field for validity, originality, clarity, completeness, and bibliographic honesty.

The articles are signed, bibliographies are extensive, and articles appear in journals that are published by academic and scientific societies.

Where to Search for Peer Reviewed Sources

The best place to start your search for peer reviewed articles is in a Library Database. After conducting your initial keyword search, look for a checkbox with the words “peer reviewed” or "academic" to limit your article results to peer reviewed articles. This option is often found on either the right or the left side of the results page in a database.

Peer reviewed check box

WCC Research Databases

WCC Research Databases by Subject
A complete list of all research databases available to WCC students/faculty/staff by subject.

Environmental Science Databases

Agricola This link opens in a new window
Containing bibliographic records from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Agricultural Library, AGRICOLA provides millions of citations relating to the field of agriculture.
Agriculture This link opens in a new window
Includes newspapers, magazines, and journals in agriculture field.
Applied Science & Technology Source This link opens in a new window
This database offers a diverse array of full-text and indexed content covering the full spectrum of the applied sciences and computing disciplines — from acoustics to aeronautics, neural networks to nuclear engineering.
Environmental Studies & Policy This link opens in a new window
A great database for subjects about Soil, Science, and Management; Introduction to Agronomy; Food, Crops, & Environment; Fundamental Soil Science; and more.
Environment Complete This link opens in a new window
Find articles on topics such as ecology, natural resources, renewal energy, geography, pollution, urban planning, environmental policy, law and technology.
Gardening & Horticulture This link opens in a new window
Gardening, Landscape, and Horticulture Collection provides access to academic journals and magazines focused on both the practical aspects as well as the scientific theory of horticulture studies. The database offers biotechnologists, farmers, hobbyists, and landscape architects.
Environmental Studies This link opens in a new window
Focuses on the physical, social, and economic aspects of environmental issues. Topic, organization, and country portals form research centers around issues covering energy systems, health care, agriculture, climate change, population, and economic development.
National Agricultural Library - PubAg This link opens in a new window
PubAg is a portal to the agricultural research authored by the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, delivering over 40,000 full-text journal articles and thousands more of journal citations.
PLoS One This link opens in a new window
An open-access, peer-reviewed e-journal collection providing over 95,000 articles in the sciences and social sciences.
Science This link opens in a new window
200 full-text science journals, science reference titles, thousands of multimedia records, science glossary, as well as national and state science standards.
Science Reference Source This link opens in a new window
Designed to meet every student researcher's needs, Science Reference Center contains full text for hundreds of science magazines, journals, encyclopedias, reference books and a vast collection of images.

Science Databases on the Web

Energy Science Database
From the U.S. Department of Energy, this database provides access to over 2 million citations from scientific publications from environmental sciences, climatology, physics, mathematics, materials, and related fields.
Sciennce Gov
Science.gov searches over 60 databases and over 2,200 scientific websites to provide users with access to more than 200 million pages of authoritative federal science information including research and development results.
World Wide Science.org
WorldWideScience.org, developed and maintained by the Office of Scientific and Technical Information in partnership with the British Library, is a global science gateway enabling federated searching of national and international scientific databases. Users get the most current findings in fields such as energy, medicine, agriculture, environment, and basic sciences, published by contributing nations.