Journal Search for Alumni Association Members

Photo: "Magazines to read" by Longzero, used under a
Creative Commons licnese

Members of the UW Alumni Association now can use the EBSCO Academic Search Alumni Edition database. The database includes over 3,000 academic journals in full text plus indexing for 5,000 more journals. 

If you are on campus or if you are a current student, staff member, or faculty member, you already have access to the related—and bigger—database, Academic Search Complete through the University Libraries.

Academic Search Alumni Edition includes many law journals, including U.S. standards (e.g., the ABA Journal and the Harvard Law Review) and a selection of journals from Europe. A search in the database will also pick up law-related articles in general-interest periodicals and journals from other disciplines.

The best way to get a sense of what you can find is to run some sample searches. For example, a search for "voir dire" turns up articles from:

• Federal Sentencing Reporter (indexing only)
• The Reporter (Air Force Office of the Judge Advocate General) (full text and PDF)
• Journal of Criminal Law (PDF)
• Journal of Child Sexual Abuse (indexing only)
• New York Times (indexing only)
• News Media & the Law (indexing only)
• American Lawyer (indexing only)
• Florida Bar Journal (indexing only)
• Georgetown Journal of Gender & the Law (indexing only)
• Review of Litigation (indexing only)
• Communication Monographs (indexing only)
• American Sociologist (indexing only)

Searching for "extraordinary rendition" retrieves articles from

• History Today (full text)
• Race & Class (indexing only)
• Brigham Young University Law Review (indexing only)
• Harvard Law Review (indexing only)
• European Journal of Migration & Law (indexing only)

Of course, you aren't limited to law-related topics. Trying out some non-law topics shows the breadth of the database. For example, searching for "san juan islands" finds articles from

• Botany (PDF) (study of moss flora)
• Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences (PDF) (sedimentary rocks)
• Fisheries Oceanography (PDF) (seal predation on salmon and forage fish schools)
• Outside (indexing only) (kayaking)
• Health (full text) (bike touring)
• American History (full text) (the Pig War)

Searching for "single payer health" yields articles from

• Pediatric Surgery International (indexing only)
• Nursing Economic$ (PDF)
• Health Affairs (indexing only)
• Journal of Health Politics, Policy & Law (indexing only)
• Benefits Quarterly (PDF)
• JGIM: Journal of General Internal Medicine (PDF)

As you can see, this database could come in handy both for professional research and for personal reading.

If you're not a member of the alumni association (you don't have to be a UW grad to join), remember to check out your local public library. Many public libraries make databases like this available to library card holders. For instance, Seattle Public Library lists its databases here.