Recent article from the Chronicle of Higher Education about gaming the journal-rating system.

These are databases which specialize in in-depth coverage of a particular discipline or subject area, with an emphasis on scholarly and/or professional journal articles, although other types of materials are mentioned -- books, essays, reports and papers, dissertations and theses, Web sites, etc.

To see the list of these specialized databases,

• choose the Library Resources / Databases option in the column on the left side of any W&L University Library Web page;
• click on any of the listed subject areas;
• "Article Searching and Databases" will be the first section on a Subject page.

There are differences in citation styles for articles used in research, depending on

• the physical format you saw or used -- in printed form, copy of text provided within an online database, or copy of text provided from publisher's Web site;
• the type of periodical you are citing -- journal article, magazine article, newspaper article.

See the "Articles" examples in Hacker's guide to APA Style, including both printed form and online form, but especially Articles from a database.

Important note about the last example:  When stating "Retrieved from...," provide either

• the name of the database or
• the permanent URL or DOI

-- not the name of the journal.