Water Resources Science & Technology Guide

How can I find primary journal articles?

Databases provide the best method for finding primary literature.  These databases index and in some cases provide full-text to  literature published in broad subject areas, and provide the user subject and keyword searching to identify needed articles. Spme databases will allow you to limit your results to primary articles only.

Below is an example of a database we subscribe to that contains primary literature. For additional databases that contain both primary and secondary, click on the main "Find Articles" tab.

ScienceDirect Freedom Collection This collection provides full-text access to over 2300 peer-reviewed, Elsevier journals from 2010-present. To view primary articles only, select the advanced search option, then select the journal tab, check the article box and enter your search terms to conduct a search.

After you conduct your search, check the "article' box in the document type section on the left hand side to limit your search results to primary literature.

Each instructor has a preferred formatting citation style based off a particular journal. Below are guidelines for each instructor. These guidelines will also be available in your Blackboard course.

• Citation style for courses with Dr. Wise de Valdez

Based on the Journal of Parasitology

**Coming soon**

• Citation style for courses with Dr. Valdez Barillas

Based on the journal Ecology

**Coming soon**

Where to Find APA Help

In addition to the print version of the APA’s Publication Manual 7th Edition (available for use at the library), consider using the following websites:

• The APA Style website: Directly affiliated with the APA, this site provides significant content online including guidelines and examples for in-text citations, reference list entries, title page formats, heading levels, bias-free language, and more.
• The Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL): Recently updated to feature 7th Edition content over 6th Edition, use the left navigation menu to address most questions about standard citations and formatting (books, journals, movies, etc). Avoid the commercial citation generator that appears on the site.
• APA Sample Papers 

  This page contains sample papers formatted in seventh edition APA Style. The sample papers show the format that authors should use to submit a manuscript for publication in a professional journal and that students should use to submit a paper to an instructor for a course assignment.

Videos

• Introduction to Citation Styles: APA 7th Ed. video: Posted by California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH) Library, this 3-minute video provides a concise, basic summary of in-text citations, reference list entries, and how they are related.
• APA 7th Edition Student Paper Formatting video: Dr. Samuel Forlenza, a professor of Exercise Science at Shippensburg University, demonstrates how to set up and apply correct fonts, margins, spacing, page numbers, student title pages, section headings, general format of reference list pages, appendices, tables, figures, and more using Microsoft Word. [The entire video is 17 minutes long, but there are time stamps for specific sections.] Note: APA 7th Edition has developed separate templates for student papers and professional papers. The student paper format no longer requires a running head.
• APA 7th Edition Professional Paper Formatting video: Dr. Samuel Forlenza, a professor of Exercise Science at Shippensburg University, demonstrates the formatting basics for professional papers using Microsoft Word. This video covers the same areas as the student paper formatting video (see previous bullet), but with the additional features of the running head and an abstract.
• How to Cite Articles on References List, APA 7th Edition video: Professor Allen (limited additional identification) provides a 3-minute overview of how to cite three different types of articles in a References list--a journal article with a doi; a political publication without a doi that is widely accessible in databases; and a web-based article with a unique URL but no doi.

Plagiarism is defined in the Texas A&M University-San Antonio's Student Handbook (November 2017) as:

"Plagiarism - The act of passing off some other person’s ideas, words, or work as one’s own. Examples include, but are not limited to, (1) The use, by paraphrase or direct quotation, of the published or unpublished work of another person without acknowledgement, documentation or citation; (2) The unacknowledged use of materials prepared by another person or agency engaged in the selling of term papers or other academic materials."

These websites below offer ways to better understand plagiarism and how to avoid it:

Turnitin is an online service that checks for similarities between your writing and that of others. It is used as a way to detect possible plagiarism. If your professor is using turnitin, you will submit your papers to turnitin in Blackboard. For more information, please refer to the TurnItIn Tools and Resources page on the Academic Technologies website.