Online academic resources
February 19, 2017 7:19 AM Subscribe
I need to do some research on linguistic topics, but don't have access to university databases (yet.) Where else can I find articles etc.?
I am re-entering grad school in April for my second semester in an Applied LInguistics The first was in 2013, and while I had some ideas for a thesis then, I am of course terribly behind on everything and need to get myself up-to-date. Unfortunately, since I am not enrolled yet, I cannot access any databases that usually grant access to students through their university network (or VPN), and the local library is a bit far.
I know that we used to use other databases like Google Scholar as well, but it's been almost four years and I am embarrassed to say that I don't remember most of them.
Can anyone please point me to good sources for recent linguistic journals, articles etc.? My focus will probably be somewhere in the vast topic of pronunciation and/or motivation, but any applied linguistics topic would be great.
Thank you in advance!
I am re-entering grad school in April for my second semester in an Applied LInguistics The first was in 2013, and while I had some ideas for a thesis then, I am of course terribly behind on everything and need to get myself up-to-date. Unfortunately, since I am not enrolled yet, I cannot access any databases that usually grant access to students through their university network (or VPN), and the local library is a bit far.
I know that we used to use other databases like Google Scholar as well, but it's been almost four years and I am embarrassed to say that I don't remember most of them.
Can anyone please point me to good sources for recent linguistic journals, articles etc.? My focus will probably be somewhere in the vast topic of pronunciation and/or motivation, but any applied linguistics topic would be great.
Thank you in advance!
Best answer: Google scholar will indicate when it knows of freely accessible PDF.
It's not the database that matters, it's the access. Unless you are in to some really weird stuff it will all get hit on GS if you search for the full title.
When GS does not indicate a freely accessible pdf, sometimes a full web search of the title in quotes will still find one.
Also, if something is really interesting/important and under a decade old, consider emailing the corresponding author and politely expressing interest and asking for a copy. I get a few requests like that for each paper I publish in bigger journals, and I always happily mail off a PDF without a second thought. Good for me, good for them, good for science.
Academic publishing is a shitty racket in the modern world- the public of the USA pays for my research and I'll happily send it to anyone in the world, let Springer come after me if they can!
posted by SaltySalticid at 8:24 AM on February 19, 2017 [4 favorites]
It's not the database that matters, it's the access. Unless you are in to some really weird stuff it will all get hit on GS if you search for the full title.
When GS does not indicate a freely accessible pdf, sometimes a full web search of the title in quotes will still find one.
Also, if something is really interesting/important and under a decade old, consider emailing the corresponding author and politely expressing interest and asking for a copy. I get a few requests like that for each paper I publish in bigger journals, and I always happily mail off a PDF without a second thought. Good for me, good for them, good for science.
Academic publishing is a shitty racket in the modern world- the public of the USA pays for my research and I'll happily send it to anyone in the world, let Springer come after me if they can!
posted by SaltySalticid at 8:24 AM on February 19, 2017 [4 favorites]
Good advice above. I've had good luck with academia.edu, and also have contacted journal authors directly and gotten copies of articles of interest. Also, the journal Applied Linguistics has some of their most cited articles available free online here.
posted by gudrun at 10:12 AM on February 19, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by gudrun at 10:12 AM on February 19, 2017 [2 favorites]
If you're within a decent distance to some university library that allows access to the general public, you can in my experience use their computers to access academic journals. You could download a whole list of articles or issues and save them usb for later reading.
(FWIW, there are also some piratical sites that specialize in academic content and have an eclectic collection of journals.)
posted by trig at 10:43 AM on February 19, 2017 [1 favorite]
(FWIW, there are also some piratical sites that specialize in academic content and have an eclectic collection of journals.)
posted by trig at 10:43 AM on February 19, 2017 [1 favorite]
Have you checked out Reddit for news/ updates in your field/ topics of interest?
posted by oceano at 10:48 AM on February 19, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by oceano at 10:48 AM on February 19, 2017 [1 favorite]
FWIW, there are also some piratical sites that specialize in academic content and have an eclectic collection of journals.
SciHub.
So much of this is relative to where you live. I had a whole answer set up and then saw you are in Europe en route to Japan? So my ideas (find a state library, do your searching on JStor and then ask authors, Hathi Trust for older stuffetc) may not work.
A lot of this depends on whether you just want to find articles via research or you want to be able to access all those articles (and skim them) because "Get me this article" stuff can work fine for stuff like SciHub but won't work as well if you really want to skim journalsful of articles but you might be able to literally go to an academic library and browse those journals if they still exist in print form.
posted by jessamyn at 11:16 AM on February 19, 2017 [1 favorite]
SciHub.
So much of this is relative to where you live. I had a whole answer set up and then saw you are in Europe en route to Japan? So my ideas (find a state library, do your searching on JStor and then ask authors, Hathi Trust for older stuffetc) may not work.
A lot of this depends on whether you just want to find articles via research or you want to be able to access all those articles (and skim them) because "Get me this article" stuff can work fine for stuff like SciHub but won't work as well if you really want to skim journalsful of articles but you might be able to literally go to an academic library and browse those journals if they still exist in print form.
posted by jessamyn at 11:16 AM on February 19, 2017 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Thanks for the answers so far!
I used to use JStor when I was in undergrad, and it worked fine in Germany. (Sorry, I should have stated my location right away!)
The main purpose to this is to find articles relevant to my future thesis topic, so I'm not sure a course reader is the best way to go.
posted by LoonyLovegood at 11:22 AM on February 19, 2017 [1 favorite]
I used to use JStor when I was in undergrad, and it worked fine in Germany. (Sorry, I should have stated my location right away!)
The main purpose to this is to find articles relevant to my future thesis topic, so I'm not sure a course reader is the best way to go.
posted by LoonyLovegood at 11:22 AM on February 19, 2017 [1 favorite]
great responses here; especially scihub from jessamyn. only additional offer is that you can search the directory of open access (i.e., free) journals for publications related to linguistics (do a search, it will break it out by article or journal; linguistics is nested under language & lit).
posted by tamarack at 11:23 AM on February 19, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by tamarack at 11:23 AM on February 19, 2017 [2 favorites]
If there is a graduate syllabus in your topic, start there. It is a far more efficient way to start looking for article than Google scholar. I say this as someone that has supervised MA theses.
posted by k8t at 3:37 PM on February 19, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by k8t at 3:37 PM on February 19, 2017 [2 favorites]
You may find a few more resources of use below the fold, and in the comments, of this FPP.
posted by Wordshore at 3:05 AM on April 20, 2017
posted by Wordshore at 3:05 AM on April 20, 2017
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Your public library and/or your undergraduate institution may have online access for members/alum. It is worth checking out.
But, I'd strongly suggest trying to find some graduate syllabi in your discipline and reading those articles versus just searching around.
posted by k8t at 7:49 AM on February 19, 2017 [2 favorites]