LING 351: Language Acquisition (Bateman)

Literature Reviews

Literature Reviews

Articles & Databases

Articles & Databases

Articles -- Linguistics

Why Articles?

Articles are generally more current publications than books, simply because the publication cycle for journals is a much shorter time frame than a book. Many articles are further developed by their authors into books and book chapters.

CSUSM leases access to a wide variety of databases, so not all databases will be appropriate to your specific research topic. There is a drop-down menu on the Databases tab that will return a group of databases that have been identified as relevant to research in each discipline offered at CSUSM.

There are various levels of content found in articles. Everything from op-ed essays to peer-reviewed scholarly studies. For help in identifying the scholarly from things your professor will not allow in your papers, this video illustrates some of the characteristics you need to see.

The bibliography offered in a scholarly work will lead to other works on the same topic. Just keep in mind that the resources listed will be older than the article you are reading, so if you need the most recent studies, the bibliography will give you names of scholars writing on your topic who may have published more recent material, but not the most current research and writing.

Most Useful

Database Full Text Coverage Scholarly Sort descending
Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts (LLBA)

Provides abstracts of articles from about 2,000 journals (published worldwide), coverage of recent books, book review citations and dissertation listings.

Links to full-text via Get-It 1973 to current All
Project Muse

Full-text coverage for hundreds of scholarly journals in the humanities, social sciences, and mathematics

Full-text 1993 to current All
MLA International Bibliography

Includes abstracts of articles from critical literary and language journals.

Links to full-text via Get-It 1963 to current All
HAPI: Hispanic American Periodicals Index

Indexes journals from 1970 on providing information about Central and South America, Mexico, the Caribbean as well as Latinx and Chicanx people in the United States.

None 1970 to current All
Communication & Mass Media Complete (Via Communication Source)

Provides abstracts and full text for more than 200 communication journals.

Some full-text; plus links to full-text via Get-It 1950 to current Some
JSTOR

Contains (EXCEPT for the latest five years) core scholarly journals in sociology, history, economics, political science, mathematics, African-American & Asian studies, literature, humanities, music, and biological, health & general sciences.

Full-text 1838 to most recent five years Most
ProQuest - Literature & Language

Search among ProQuest’s Literature & Language databases

Some full-text; plus links to full-text via Get-It 1985 to current Most

Also Useful

Database Full Text Coverage Scholarly Sort descending
Sociological Abstracts

Provides access to the latest international findings in theoretical and applied sociology, social science, and political science.

Links to full-text via Get-It 1963 to current All
SpringerLink

Includes more than 1,100 peer-reviewed journals in science, medicine, and technology.

Some full-text 1996 to current All
Dissertations and Theses Database: The Humanities and Social Sciences Collection

Dissertations and Theses Database includes digitized dissertations in a variety of subject areas including Art, Communications, Education, History, Linguistics, Literature, and Social Sciences.

Some full-text 1979 to current All
ERIC

A national database of education literature, including reports and journal articles.

ALERT! Within ERIC search results: IF the "Link to ERIC full text" does not work, try the "Get It!" link.
Links to full-text via Get-It 1966 to current Some

Books & the Library Catalog

Books & the Library Catalog

Books -- Linguistics

Why Books?

We encourage the use of books in starting your research as the CSUSM collection is a hand-picked set of resources purchased for the courses taught in our university. This eliminates the problem of "too much stuff" as long as you strategize useful, relevant terms to type into the search box.

You frequently do not need to read the entire book. A chapter in a scholarly work may offer the information you need without reading the rest of the contents. Use the index and Table of Contents to see what is there on your topic and concentrate on that section.

The bibliography offered in a scholarly work leads to other books and articles on the same topic. Just keep in mind that the resources listed will be older than the book you are reading, so if you need the most recent studies, the bibliography will give you names of scholars on your topic, but not the most current research and writing.


Search Terms

Being that you generally use a computer to search for books or articles, you need to strategize search terms to find what you need. The computer is only going to look for exactly what you type and nothing else, so this is your chance to be smarter than the machine!

Using the example of 'child directed speech and motherese', here are terms that can return useful information in the library catalog.

  • child / children / infant / babies
  • first language
  • acquisition / learning
  • parent /mother / father

In looking at the results of the keyword searches above, you will see various subject headings. These are labels to precisely identify the topics discussed in the text. Here are some of the subject headings found:

 


Searching the Catalog

When searching the library catalog for books or media, there are some key pieces of information on the record screen for the title you are interested in.

  • Location (Physical Holdings) is important, but before you look for the book or media,
  • the Details field provides helpful information such as chapter titles to tell you more about the content,
  • Citation information is what you will need to cite the source in your paper,
  • Subjects will link to other related materials that didn't match your search terms,
  • Bibliographies are a sign of scholarly work as well as providing leads to more resources,
  • Full Text Available link denotes online access to an e-book.

 


Finding More

No library in the world can hold all information on a topic, although some do try! You can easily expand your search for books by searching the CSU+ collection on your topic and requesting the material to be delivered to CSUSM for pickup (its free!) This usually takes 3-5 business days.

Going farther than CSU+ will require using the database WorldCat. This will search not only the CSU libraries, but libraries around the world. You can request these materials through Interlibrary Loan. These may take longer than CSU+ since they might be coming from outside California (expect 2 weeks or so.) 

If you have a book title (from a bibliography or professor's recommendation), check our catalog, CSU+ and then request through ILL if you have not found it. 

Please contact the librarian for help if things are not working the way you think or you want to find more than you have.

APA Citation

APA Citation

APA (General)

What is APA style?

APA stands for the American Psychological Association. It is the citation style used in most of the social sciences as well as some of the natural sciences.

Official APA Style Manual at CSUSM Library

This is the official APA manual published by the American Psychological Association. Though the 7th edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association was released in October 2019, we are currently providing information and links to the 6th edition.  This is because the American Psychological Association expects students and professors to transition to this new edition in the spring of 2020 or thereafter.  The CSUSM library is awaiting the delivery of the new guides and the transition of other reliable sources to the 7th edition before updating its own citation guide. If you are required to use the 7th edition prior to our updating our APA page, please go directly to the APA's Style and Grammar Guidelines website or contact a librarian directly for assistance.

  • Library copies (BF76.7 P83 2010) 
    The CSUSM Library owns several copies of the official APA manual that you can consult in person. Click on the link above to see where they are located.
  • The official APA website 
    Need access to the official APA guidelines right now but can't get to a copy of the book? Try out their website. It has helpful FAQs and basic guidelines.

Helpful Online Guides

What is a DOI? 

APA style requires that you include a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) whenever you cite the online version of an article.  A DOI is a special number that identifies each unique article in a database.  Please note- some articles may not have a DOI.  

To find the DOI, Ask a Librarian or check out the follwing tools:

Using APA for Special Cases 

More FAQs at the official APA website...

Sample Paper in APA Style

Need Help?

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