JSTOR: Where research meets its scholarly match

Throughout the year, Mrs. Piekutowski and I are often asked, “What database should I use for my research project?” Whether students are working on their I-Search project or just needing to find peer reviewed articles, JSTOR stands out as one of our favorite databases. Check out the six reasons why we recommend students use JSTOR.  

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1. Scholarly journals - provides access to more than 2,600 journals in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences.
2. Ebooks - more than 60,000 ebooks are available, which are searchable by chapter!
3. Primary sources - offers millions of sources across four collections.
4. Thematic collections - organizes topics by theme for easier searching.
5. My Workspace (scroll down) - organizes your sources by saving them with a single click, creating folders to organize your items and to export your saved citations
6. Text Analyzer - allows you to upload your own text or document to find the most significant topics and then recommends similar content on JSTOR. To learn how to use it, just watch the video  below or read about it here.   

​To use JSTOR effectively, you will need to login to the database. Although JSTOR is easy to use, there are two layers of access that is sometimes confusing, institution and personal. Institution access allows students and staff to access the subscription content that we pay for. Personal access offers the ability to create lists and to save their research articles, books, etc. Follow these steps to login.

Once you have logged in, it’s time to start searching! JSTOR has a very helpful LibGuide, which gives you tips for conducting basic and advanced searches.