Libraries Ask Us

Linguistics

Finding journal articles

There are three main ways to find scholarly journal articles through the library:

1. Discovery Search

To search for articles in many journals at once:

Enter your keywords or other information in the search bar and click "Search."
On the results page, check the "Scholarly Peer Reviewed Articles" box under the "Limit To" header on the left side of the page.

To search for articles in one particular journal:

Enter the code JN followed by the name of the journal in the first search bar.
Use the second search bar to look for specific keywords or other information.

Note: not all journals that are available through the library appear in Discovery Search.

2. eJournals Search

Search for specific journals and either browse issues or search within them.

To view all journals in a particular subject:

Click the "Browse Subjects" tab above the search bar in the eJournals Search interface.

A database is a structured collection of data. Some library databases are collections of scholarly peer-reviewed articles while other contain book chapters, contain maps, interviews, newspaper articles, etc.

Many databases of articles contain journals specific to a discipline or field, making them an effective way to search many linguistics journals at once.

Linguistics article databases

JSTOR: Linguistics
50+ full-text linguistics journals published between the 1800s and present.

Linguistics Abstracts This link opens in a new window
Citations and abstracts for articles in scholarly linguistics journals published 1985-present.
Available on campus to all, or off-campus to UMass Amherst students, staff and faculty with an UMass Amherst IT NetID (user name) and password.
Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts - LLBA This link opens in a new window
Citations and abstracts for scholarly linguistics articles, dissertations, conference papers, and more published 1994-present. The contents of this database do not appear in Discovery Search results.
Available on campus to all, or off-campus to UMass Amherst students, staff and faculty with an UMass Amherst IT NetID (user name) and password.

Multidisciplinary article databases featuring linguistics

Academic Search Premier This link opens in a new window
Scholarly articles published 1975-present, which span many disciplines including linguistics.
Available on campus to all, or off-campus to UMass Amherst students, staff and faculty with an UMass Amherst IT NetID (user name) and password.
HathiTrust This link opens in a new window
Academic library partnership providing searching and downloading of public-domain books and specialized services for text mining projects.

Please see more... below for what is available to UMass faculty, staff and students and what is available for community patrons.
For anyone in the world, you can access these materials in HathiTrust:
- Search across the entire collection
- Read and view works that are “full-view”
- Search within works that are “limited (search-only)”
- Download a single page at a time from works that have download restrictions (e.g., works that are in the public domain but were digitized by Google or other vendors with contractual limitations)
- Download an entire work that doesn’t have download restrictions (e.g., works digitized by Internet Archive and other organizations, works that have been opened with a Creative Commons license)
For UMass faculty, staff and students, you can additionally access the following if you log in with your NetID and password using the HathiTrust link above:
- Download public domain works that have download restrictions (see “Can I download a whole book?” for more information);
- Create, save and share public or private collections?;
- Access copyrighted works lawfully in appropriate circumstances (see accessibility and out-of-print and brittle for more information).
Members can not view or download works that are “limited (search-only)”. See “Is it possible to view a volume that is Limited (search-only)?” for more information.
JSTOR This link opens in a new window
Core scholarly journals and books from a range of disciplines including linguistics. Articles appear from the earliest issue of each journal to a few years before present.
Available on campus to all, or off-campus to UMass Amherst students, staff and faculty with an UMass Amherst IT NetID (user name) and password.
MLA International Bibliography This link opens in a new window
Citations and abstracts for articles in scholarly journals, books, dissertations, and more with a focus on literature, literary theory and criticism, linguistics, and folklore. The bibliography has been maintained since 1921 and includes publications in languages from around the world.
Available on campus to all, or off-campus to UMass Amherst students, staff and faculty with an UMass Amherst IT NetID (user name) and password.
PsycINFO This link opens in a new window
Database of peer-reviewed journal articles in psychology, behavioral science, and mental health published 1887-present. Published by the American Psychological Association (APA).
Available on campus to all, or off-campus to UMass Amherst students, staff and faculty with an UMass Amherst IT NetID (user name) and password.
Scopus This link opens in a new window
Scopus is an indexing and abstracting database of peer-reviewed scholarly content covering the sciences, social sciences, and arts & humanities, comparable to the Web of Science. Scopus allows for the discovery, tracking, and analysis of scholarship that includes: journal articles, conference proceedings, trade magazines, book series, books and book chapters, and patents.
Available on campus to all, or off-campus to UMass Amherst students, staff and faculty with an UMass Amherst IT NetID (user name) and password.
Web of Science This link opens in a new window
Index to articles from peer-reviewed journals in all disciplines.Search by cited reference, topic, author, and more. Arts and Humanities covers 1975-present; Social Sciences 1900-present; and Science 1900-present.
Available on campus to all, or off-campus to UMass Amherst students, staff and faculty with an UMass Amherst IT NetID (user name) and password.

Google Scholar for even more articles

Google Scholar This link opens in a new window
An enormous index that contains articles from many more journals than the library has to offer.
Available on campus to all, or off-campus to UMass Amherst students, staff and faculty with an UMass Amherst IT NetID (user name) and password.

You can access Google Scholar with UMLinks buttons from outside the UMass Amherst IP range ("off campus") by two methods:

1. Access Google Scholar through the Library web site by using this link.
2. Go to generic Google Scholar.
a. Click on "Settings."
b. Click on Library links.
c. Type in "University of Massachusetts" or "UMass Amherst" (or a few other variations).
d. Check "University of Massachusetts Amherst - UMass Check for Full Text" and Save.
e. You will be asked to authenticate somewhere along the way to full text.

If you can't access the full-text of an article, submit an Interlibrary Loan request. This is a free library service where we find another library to share the article and email it to you as a PDF.