Searching in JSTOR

Begin by accessing the database, JSTOR from the library website or in the link below.

Conduct Your Search

Start your search by entering your keywords. You are able to add additional search boxes by selecting "add search box."

JSTOR contains a range of types of sources including books, images, articles, primary sources, and more. If you want to narrow your results to a specific type of source, there are a couple ways you can do this.

In Advanced Search

You are able to use the "narrow your results" option in the advanced search area. This can be especially helpful when trying to eliminate reviews that appear in journals in your result list. 

On the Results Page

On the results page, you have several different options for limiting your content. 

Academic Content: You can limit to results published in Journals versus Book Chapters

Primary Source Content: If you are searching for primary sources, you can limit by the type of primary source you are looking for: serials, documents, or books. 

Date: You can limit your search results to a specific publication time frame or to help you find more recent research.  

Subject: Limiting by subject can be especially helpful when you are trying to find research from a specific perspective. For example, if you are looking for literary research on Jane Austen, you might want to limit by subject to "Language and Literature." Alternatively, if you wanted results related to Jane Austen and her influence on women, you might want to limit by subject to "Feminist and Women's Studies. 

According to the JSTOR Support page, "While the majority of journals collected in JSTOR are considered peer-reviewed publications, our archives also contain some specific primary source materials (such as some journals in the Ireland Collection and the 19th Century British Pamphlet Collection). These are examples of journal content that pre-date the current standard peer-review process. While all the information in JSTOR is held to a scholarly standard, not all publications technically qualify as peer-reviewed."

What content is NOT peer-reviewed?

• Content listed as "Primary Source" such as the historical journal content, images, and pamphlet collections
• Open content such as community collections, and open images
• Research reports

*If you aren't sure if your source is peer reviewed, navigate to the research help page of this guide to connect with a librarian who can help clarify.