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College of San Mateo Library

Articles & Databases

As of February 2021 this page is no longer being updated. Please visit our A-Z Databases page to see our current collections.

CSM Library provides access to many databases, covering many subject areas. Databases include content in a variety of resource types, including scholarly journal articles, news and magazine articles, online encyclopedias & dictionaries, ebooks, audiobooks, streaming video, art images, and more.

Audio & Video
Dictionaries
eBooks
Encyclopedias
Newspapers
Statistics

Comparing Resource Types

Articles

Not all articles are the same. Here is a handy chart to help you decide which type of article you need for your research. Popular articles are found in news sources and magazines. Scholarly articles are found in academic, or peer reviewed, journals.

Comparison of popular versus scholarly articles. Popular articles such as those found in news sources and magazines are written by professional journalists, for the general public. They don't usually use formal citations, if any, and contain advertisements. They typically cover current events. Scholarly articles such as those found in academic journals are written by researchers and scholars, for other researchers and scholars. Scholarly sources always contain formal citations, and rarely contain advertisements. Scholarly sources do not cover current events because the peer review process takes a long time.

Comparison chart courtesy of Dalton State College Roberts Library's research guide on finding articles.

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