For much of your course, you are asked to learn more about different theories or concepts used in systems thinking. In many discussion posts you are asked for find more resources to back your posts. This guide will help you locate peer reviewed articles using or discussing a particular theory or concept to help you complete your discussions.

This guide will assist you in locating peer reviewed articles in the Walden Library on a theory or concept. After reviewing this guide you should be able to:

• locate subject databases in the Walden Library
• search for peer reviewed articles on your theory or concept in the databases

Databases can be a great place to search for theories that have been referenced in research, and to discover what is being talked about in your discipline. 

In this example, we will locate articles using a particular theory in Business Source Complete.

Tip: You can replicate this search in a different subject database of your choosing.
Learn about choosing a database to search.
 

1. On the Library homepage, navigate to the Research by Subject box.
2. Click on Research by Subject and choose: Business & Management
3. From the Business & Management accordion, choose the database Business Source Complete.
   Login with your myWalden email and password. 
4. Type your keywords into the search box. For example: 
   
   In the first row, first search box, type:
   
   "general systems theory"
   
   Note: Be sure to use the quotation marks. They search for that exact phrase.
    
5. Under the search boxes, click inside the check mark boxes for Full Text and Peer Reviewed Scholarly Journals.
    

   
   
    

6. Click the search button to run the search.
    

The results in the center of the screen will be a list of articles with the search terms bolded.

On the results screen take a look at the Subjects listed under the article titles. This can be a good way to brainstorm and see the names of different theories. Learn about subject terms and index searching

Tip: Doing a search without a term in the second box will give you more general results.

The SAGE Knowledge database is a good place to start if you know the name of a theory or concept and want to find more information. 

1. From the Walden Library's homepage, click on Databases A-Z.
2. At the top of the page above the list of databases, click on All Database Types.
   
   
    
3. Click on Encyclopedias and Dictionaries from the dropdown list.
4. Click on SAGE Knowledge (formerly SAGE Encyclopedias) 
   You may be prompted for your username and password. This is the same as what you use in your myWalden portal.
5. In the search box type the name of the theory. For example: 
   
   "complexity theory"
   
   Note: Be sure to use the quotation marks. They search for that exact phrase.  
    
6. Click the magnifying glass to run the search.
7. In the results list, click on the title you want to view. 

The entry will have an overview of the theory. If you scroll down to the references, you will often see the original works cited. Sometimes there might be links below the citations that will take you to the article if we have it in our Library.

Were you able to locate relevant articles on week eight's assignment topic? If not, did you play with the keywords or try a different database?

• Learn more about researching Business Theory
• See our guide on Choosing a database.
• See our guide on Keyword searching.