Research Guides: Language, Writing & Rhetoric: Finding articles

Can't find full text of an article you need?

Here are several ways you can request access to material from other libraries.

Have a question?

Use Ask Us! to chat with a librarian in real time. You can also submit a question to a librarian in this form.

Stop by the library services desk on the first floor of McKeldin to talk to a librarian in person, or email Pat Herron, the subject librarian in English.

Finding databases and journals

The University of Maryland subscribes to hundreds of databases that cover a wide range of subjects. Not sure which database is best for your search? Use the Database Finder to locate databases by subject.

Know the journal you're looking for? Search journals at UMD and beyond using the Journal Finder.

Visit the Directory of Open Access Journals for a list of free peer-reviewed journals across disciplines.

Core databases in Language, Writing, and Rhetoric

Academic Search Ultimate
Multi-disciplinary database providing information for nearly every area of academic study. Includes an enormous collection of the most valuable peer-reviewed full text journals, as well as additional journals, magazines, newspapers and books. Multidisciplinary subjects including: social sciences, humanities, education, computer sciences, engineering, physics, chemistry, language & linguistics, arts & literature, medicine, ethnic studies. 1965- present.
Arts and Humanities Citation Index
Provides access to current and retrospective bibliographic information and cited references found in nearly 1,130 of the world's leading arts & humanities journals. Also, covers individually selected, relevant items from approximately 7,000 of the world's leading science and social sciences journals. 1975 to present; weekly updates.
Communication & Mass Media Complete
Provides full text and indexing for journals in communication, mass media
and other closely-related fields. Combines the resources formerly known as
CommSearch and Mass Media Articles Index. CommSearch offered bibliographic and keyword references to 26 journals in communication studies, with coverage extending to the inaugural issue of each. It also included cover-to-cover indices of NCAs six journals, and abstracts from their earliest appearance in NCA journals. Mass Media Articles Index provided citation coverage of over 40,000 articles related to mass media and published in over 60 research journals, as well as major journalism reviews, recent encyclopedias, and handbooks in the area of communications studies. EBSCO has combined and expanded the extensive coverage of these two resources to create CMMC.

CompPile
An open-access searchable inventory that focuses on post-secondary writing from 1939 - present.

ERIC
Provides access to information from over 1000 education and education-related journals as well as a variety of non journal materials, or ERIC documents. All aspects and levels of education. 1966- present. Non-journal documents are available via microfiche; they are also online from 1993-present. The database includes an online thesaurus.
Google Scholar
Google Scholar searches academic publishers, professional societies, pre-print archives, and university institutional repositories.
JSTOR
Electronic archive of core journals in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences. Includes complete runs of journals with full-text of all articles published from volume 1, issue 1. Please note, most journals have a “moving wall” (time lag) of three to five years between the most current issue published and content available on JSTOR. Coverage spans the humanities, sciences, and social sciences.
MLA International Bibliography with Full Text
Indexes journals, books, essay collections, proceedings, dissertations, and bibliographies published worldwide in the areas of literary criticism, language, linguistics, rhetoric, and folklore of all countries. Produced by the Modern Language Association (MLA) the database contains millions of citations as well as full text for over 1,000 journals.
Project Muse
Full text of recent issues of over 240 journals from 40 scholarly publishers. Covers the fields of literary studies, history, the visual & performing arts, cultural studies, education, political science, gender studies, economics, and many other arts and humanities and social science disciplines. Covers the fields of literature and criticism, history, the visual and performing arts, cultural studies, education, political science, gender studies, economics, and many other arts and humanities and social science disciplines. Time span: Varies by journal. Some back to 1993, the majority from 1997 to the present.