If you search a database and the full article's not there, don't despair. Look for the "FindIt" button: or FindIt@BC. Find It will offer help including:
You can set up email alerts or RSS feeds for searches in databases or for journal current contents. Please see the guides below for more information on setting these up.
Finding peer-reviewed articles
Some databases have a checkbox to limit your results to peer-reviewed articles. Others have a tab on the results page for "scholarly articles." If the database doesn't identify the journals as peer-reviewed, look the journal up in Ulrich's International Periodicals Directory; peer-reviewed (refereed) journals have this icon:
Review articles
A review articles summarizes the research on a given topic. A recent review article can be a great place to start your literature search. The extensive references to the primary research at the end will give you many other articles to explore. The literature review section of a dissertation can serve the same purpose. Many databases will allow you to limit your search to review articles; check the help section of the database for details.