Modern Languages

Searching for scholarly academic journal articles? These databases are your best starting points.

Many of our databases offer the option to search for articles written in specific languages.

Locate this option on the:

• Advanced Search screen
• Narrow/refine results options on the search results pages

The databases are trying to match search terms to words in titles, abstracts, and the full text of articles. If you need an article written in German, try using German search terms.

Below are two ways to search to increase the relevancy of your search results in MLA: use options on the Advanced Search screen and expand your search terms using the Thesaurus. 

Advanced Search

Advanced in this case means special search features for literary researchers, not that you have to be a literature expert. Advanced search features include searching by:

• Genre
• Primary Subject Author (that is - the author of a work, like Colette, is the subject of the article)
• Location
• Time Period

Below is a screen shot of the Advanced Search screen, including the search options that appear when you click on the Select a Field option in the search boxes.

Use the Thesaurus to identify terms commonly used by literary researchers.

The Thesaurus:

• appears as an option on the Advanced Search screen
• identifies alternative search terms, including broader, narrower, and related terms 

Not all keywords will appear in the Thesaurus; not all terms in the Thesaurus will have alternative terms.

A sample Thesaurus search:

1. Link to the Thesaurus from the Advanced Search page.
2. Enter your keyword in the search term box. The image below shows a search for the keyword middle.
   • All the subject terms that appear contain the word middle. 
   • Switch to subject terms that begin with middle by clicking the Begins with option under the search term box.
3. Click on a subject term to open a new window.

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Below is a screenshot of the Thesaurus screen that appears for the term African American middle class. Note that the Thesaurus offers two Broader Terms and one Narrower Term:

1. Click the box to the left of any of the subject terms that you want to include in your search.
2. Once you have selected all of the terms to include, click on the Add to search button at the bottom of the box, then Close.
3. You will be returned to the Advanced Search screen with the new subject terms added.

JSTOR searches journals covering multiple subjects, including literature and modern languages.

Use the Advanced Search page because it offers options to focus your search so that you don't get 100,000 irrelevant articles.

On the Advanced Search page

• Take advantage of the multiple search boxes; each line can be used for a separate concept.
• Insert OR between synonyms or related terms to tell JSTOR that you will accept results with any those words.
• Select All Content under access type; use the Get It button to locate a copy of the article if it's not available through JSTOR.
• Under Item Type, select Articles. This removes the hundreds of the book reviews that will appear otherwise.
• Use the Language option to locate articles written in the language of your choice.
  • Use search terms in the selected language — JSTOR matches search terms to the full text of articles.

More JSTOR help: