Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Studies
Research Guide and Tutorial   Tags: bisexual, catalog, databases, gay, lesbian, lgbt, reference, research port, transgender, women  

To conduct scholarly research, students must pick the best sources of information. In most cases these are scholarly books and journals. In some cases, Internet Websites may be used, provided that the information is up-to-date and provided by a reliable source.

Often your professors will want you to search only for articles in scholarly journals (also called "peer-reviewed"), and not in popular magazines or newspapers. Most--but not all--of the Research Port databases primarily search scholarly journals. If you are not sure whether or not a journal is "scholarly," the Identifying Periodical Types guide and the Periodical Comparison Chart may help you decide.  Also see the diagram at the right:

Note:  If you are using an EBSCO database (e.g., LGBT Life, Academic Search,  Family and Society Studies, SocIndex, PsycInfo, etc.), you can insure that you have scholarly articles by checking the box that indicates "Scholarly (Peer Reviewed)."  Because many topics in LGBT Studies deal with current  and news topics, much research in this field will not be limited to so-called "scholarly" resources, but may also include magazines, newspapers and other newsmedia.

The University of Maryland Libraries Home Page has two primary tools that provide entryways to scholarly research: the Catalog and Research Port. The Catalog is where one looks to locate books (and also other materials, such as government documents, theses, films, etc. ) that the Libraries own. If you need to locate journal articles then click on the Research Port link and use the databases. Most of these databases are indexes that will help you find articles in scholarly journals.   

(Note:  The Home Page also provides a link to WorldCatUM, a third tool that is in ongoing development.)