Although books are the dominant form of scholarship in the humanities, articles are valuable, especially those appearing in scholarly journals.

Some assignments require one to limit one's search to scholarly or peer-reviewed articles. "Peer-reviewed," "scholarly," "academic,"and "refereed" are often used interchangeably to describe manuscripts that underwent expert review before publication.

Some databases allow one you to limit your search to scholarly journals.

Print periodicals pertinent to interior design are located in both Mullins Library and the Fine Arts Library. Note: Periodicals in Mullins Library are arranged by call number, with the current issues of most titles on the Lobby Level. Periodicals in the Fine Arts Library are arranged alphabetically, with the latest issue on the main floor.

Because of the interdisciplinary nature of the field, students may also find relevant material in art and architecture journals.

Browsing periodicals can help students with ideas for projects and offer them the opportunity to view multiple illustrations rapidly.

Three major core periodicals are located either in Mullins Library or online:

Most searchers rely exclusively on keywords to retrieve records in databases. In many cases using keywords works well. If you wish to retrieve more precise results, try searching by the specialized terms of the database, also known as "controlled vocabulary," and often referred to as "descriptors." The order in which you enter your terms can matter as well. For example, often you can best search by author by typing the last name before the first name.