Subject Guides: Korean Studies: Home

Finding Secondary Scholarship & Primary Sources

A List of Useful Databases for Finding Scholarly Articles

Use the databases listed below to search for scholarly articles on your research topic. Hovering over the "info" icon will reveal detailed information about each database. For some very helpful tips on how to conduct a successful database search, click Here.

TIP: Use multiple databases when searching for articles related to your research project as each database has different coverage and unique features.

Academic Search Ultimate (EBSCO) This link opens in a new window This multi-disciplinary database provides full text for more than 10,000 journals, including over 9,000 peer-reviewed titles. Academic Search Ultimate offers access to resources cited in key subject indexes. The combination of academic journals, magazines, periodicals, reports, books and videos meets the needs of scholars in virtually every discipline ranging from astronomy, anthropology, biomedicine, engineering, health, law and literacy to mathematics, pharmacology, womens studies, zoology and more.
Bibliography of Asian Studies This link opens in a new window An Asian Studies database. This database indexes books and articles from around the world on all subjects pertaining to East, Southeast and South Asia. Coverage is from 1971 to the present.
Dissertations & Theses (ProQuest) This link opens in a new window PQDT Global connects scholarship from 4,100 universities in over 60 countries, diverse voices, ideas, and perspectives can be viewed within a singular global context. : Each full text dissertation and thesis in PQDT is fully searchable providing an unparalleled resource for text and data mining analysis making connections that generate new insights.

Google Book Search Google Book Search searches a growing "database" of digitized books with access to Full Text View, Sample Page View, and Snippet Views, depending on the title.

Google Scholar This link opens in a new window Google Scholar provides a simple way to broadly search for scholarly literature. From one place, you can search across many disciplines and sources: peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, abstracts and articles, from academic publishers, professional societies, preprint repositories, universities and other scholarly organizations. Google Scholar helps you identify the most relevant research across the world of scholarly research. By logging into Google Scholar from off-campus, the library holdings will be integrated into your search results allowing you to quickly find the full-text of scholarly materials.
HathiTrust This link opens in a new window The Hathi Trust Digital Library brings together the immense collections of partner institutions in digital form, preserving them securely to be accessed and used today, and in future generations. Check the Full view only box when searching to limit your results to freely accessible materials.
JSTOR This link opens in a new window JSTOR focuses on humanities, social science, and more recently, science titles which have proven themselves vital to these disciplines and which have many years of publication, in some cases going back to the 19th century. Also searches ARTstor.
MLA International Bibliography (EBSCO) This link opens in a new window MLA International Bibliography offers a detailed bibliography of journal articles, books, book chapters and dissertations about literature, language, linguistics and folklore. Produced by the Modern Language Association (MLA), the electronic version of the bibliography dates back to the 1920s and contains over 1.8 million citations from more than 4,400 journals & series, and 1,000 book publishers.
Project MUSE This link opens in a new window Indexes the full-text of over 200 scholarly journals in humanities, social sciences and mathematics.
Web of Science This link opens in a new window
Systematic downloading, redistribution to non-subscribers, and any commercial use expressly prohibited.
WorldCat (FirstSearch) This link opens in a new window Simultaneously search library catalogs from across the U.S. and around the world. Use the Interlibrary Loan feature to request items from other libraries.
History Reference Center (EBSCO) This link opens in a new window Full text for more than 1,620 reference books, encyclopedias and non-fiction books from leading history publishers and more than 150 leading history periodicals. Further, the database contains nearly 57,000 historical documents; more than 77,000 biographies of historical figures; more than 113,000 historical photos and maps; and more than 80 hours of historical video.
Historical Abstracts (EBSCO) This link opens in a new window 1955+ Indexes and abstracts scholarly articles, books, and dissertations on the history of the world (excluding the U.S. and Canada) from 1450 to the present.
Literature Resource Center (LRC)(Gale) This link opens in a new window Provides access to biographies, bibliographies, critical analysis, and Web resources of authors from every age and literary discipline. Covers more than 90,000 novelists, poets, essayists, journalists and other writers, with in-depth coverage of 2,000 of the most-studied authors. Search by Author Name, Title, Genre, Literary Movement or Literary Themes.
ATLA Religion Database (EBSCO) This link opens in a new window Alternate title: American Theological Library Association (ATLA) Religion Database (EBSCO). A Religious Studies database. This database produced by the American Theological Library Association includes information on topics such as biblical studies, world religions, church history, and religion in social issues. References come from more than 600 journals and other sources and are in 35 languages. Includes several Mormon journals. Coverage is from 1949 to the present.
Sociological Abstracts (ProQuest) This link opens in a new window Indexes and abstracts articles in sociology and related fields. Index covers 1952 to the present and is updated quarterly.

For scholarship published in the Korean language, consult these databases:

DBpia Database www.dbpia.co.kr

KRpia Database www.krpia.co.kr

Scholarly Journals About Korea

The Journal of Korean Studies (1979–present)

Click the link to reveal access options: For most recent issues, click "Duke University Press." For access to older issues, click "JSTOR Complete."

The earliest issues (1969–1971) can be accessed here.

Acta Koreana (2012–present)

International Journal of Korean Studies (2000–present) Open Source

Journal of Northeast Asian Studies (2004–present) [ISSN: 1976-3735] You can access the tables of contents for all issues by clicking the journal title. You then will need to order any desired articles through HBLL Inter Library Loan.

Library Resources about Korea, Committee on Korean Studies (Association for Asian Studies)

Additional Research Help

For additional help, try these excellent resources from the BYU Library:

Research & Writing Center
Trained consultants help you in any part of the research and writing process - for free!
Step-by-Step Research Guide
Detailed information on each part of the research process.
General Research Guide
Descriptions and links to resources to help you do your research.
Video Guides
Excellent, quick modules that make sense of what you need to do to be successful in your research.

Subject Specific Databases

The Korea Society is a private nonprofit organization based in New York City that is dedicated to the promotion of greater awareness, understanding and cooperation between the people of the United States and Korea.

The library provides access to three excellent databases for finding scholarly articles in Korean:

DBpia Database www.dbpia.co.kr

DBpia is a multidisciplinary database of full-text journal articles published by major South Korean research institutions. There are over 1900 journal titles and more than 1.9 million Korean articles included. Some resources are available in English.

KRpia Database www.krpia.co.kr

KRpia is a full-text database including primary sources and full-text archival material on Korean history, literature, medicine, religion, etc. and reference works and such as dictionaries and encyclopedias.

KCI Korean Journal Database

The KCI Korean Journal Database on the Web of Science platform provides access to over 1.4 million articles from more than 2,500 multidisciplinary journals in Korean and English. Coverage includes: Arts & Humanities, History, Business, Science, Engineering, Technology, and more. To access the database, navigate to Web of Science, click on the "Search in Web of Science Core Collection" menu and select "KCI Korean Journal Database." Many full-text articles are available, for those that are not available click on the "Get it @ BYU" link or request the article through Interlibrary Loan

North Korean News

NK News (North Korean News) is an independent, privately owned English language specialist site on North Korea. NK News has no affiliation to any political organization or country.

Joins North Korean Net [Joins 풐한너투] (North Korean News in Korean).

Korean News (Mostly South Korea)

Naver News Library

- Full-text Korean newspaper article database offering

- Tonga ilbo 東亞日報 = Dong-A ilbo : 1920-1999

- Kyŏnghyang sinmun 京鄕新聞 = Kyunghyang Shinmun : 1946-1999

- Maeil kyŏngje sinmun 每日經濟新聞 = Maeil Business Newspaper : 1966-1999

- Han’gyŏre 한겨레 = The Hankyoreh : 1988-1999

ProQuest Global Newsstream enables users to search the most recent global news content, as well as archives which stretch back into the 1980s featuring content from newspapers, newswires, and news sites in active full-text format. This product provides one of the largest collections of news from the US, Canada, Europe, Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Australia. All titles are cross-searchable on the ProQuest platform allowing researchers easy access to multiple perspectives, resources, and languages on the topic they are researching.0

Free access to the current issue of the New York Times is available to BYU students and faculty. You will need to create a free account using your @byu.edu email address. To access news about Korea, type "Korea" In the search box of the NYT homepage.

Influential Newspapers Current Issues and Archives

Korean Film Archive A dedicated YouTube channel for Korean film. You will find Korean films from 1930s to present, available for free.

Kanopy partners with public libraries and universities to stream thoughtful entertainment to your preferred device with no fees and no commercials. Click the logo above and log in with your BYU NetID to enjoy Kanopy's diverse catalog with new titles added every month. You can search for films on Asian topics and in Asian languages.

ProQuest's Alexander Street is the world’s leading provider of academic streaming media to libraries. They have partnered with top video producers around the world to deliver more than 60,000 video titles across all disciplines. They are particularly strong in the fields of anthropology, history, diversity studies, theatre, film, music, dance, news, current affairs, and the social sciences. For video related to Asian Studies, click Here.

FRONTLINE produces works of investigative journalism that both question and explain complicated and controversial aspects of our modern world. Frontline has been one of American television’s top long-form news and current affairs series since 1983. They have won every major journalism and broadcasting award, including 91 Emmy Awards and 22 Peabody Awards. You can watch more than 200 documentaries online, for free, any time.

Extensive collection of streamable documentary video. Maintained by Infobase.

Sources of Korean Tradition: From Early Times through the Sixteenth Century by Lee; de Bary; Ch'oe; Kang; Schultz; and Crewe (eds.)
Publication Date: 1996

Websites

North Korean News

NK News (North Korean News) is an independent, privately owned English language specialist site on North Korea. NK News has no affiliation to any political organization or country.

38 North • Stimson Center

38 North covers not only North Korea’s weapons of mass destruction, but digs beneath the surface of political, economic, social and other developments. North Korea is not a hermit kingdom, but rather a country that has been in the throes of change, good and bad, for over a decade. Those changes have important implications for the Korean peninsula, the East Asian region and the international community.

38 North strives as much as possible for ideological balance, publishing opposing opinions, and utilizes various technologies to analyze military, economic, social and other developments north of the DMZ. While it is an American-based project, it draws on experts from around the world to provide international perspectives as well.

40 Maps that Explain North Korea (2018)

North Korea, formally known as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), is also one of the most misunderstood countries in the world. This site uses a lot of maps (and a few charts), to provide some clarity and context to help better understand both the country and the Korean Conflict. It explores where the North Korean regime came from, how much of a threat it really poses to the United States and its allies, and what life is like there.

Other Websites for Korean Studies

Korea Net
National Institute of Korean History
National Library of Korea
Statistics of Korea
National Institute of the Korean Language
Korea Social Science Data Archive
Free access to a searchable data and literature archive. Users may download data files and perform online statistical analysis. English interface and search capability provided.
Korean Literature Now
Quarterly journal in English about contemporary Korean literature

Online Korean Language Study Applications

Beginning Korean 1

A free, open access, downloadable Korean language textbook produced by University of Iowa faculty Sang-Seok Yoon, Jyoung-A Park, and Jeehae Yoo.

Click here for the accompanying audio files.

Click here for the accompanying Activity Book.

BYU subscribes to two very good applications for learning Korean (and numerous other languages) at your own speed. Click below to explore.

Mango is a language learning software database BYU students can use to supplement coursework, maintain and improve language skills, or learn a new language in ways that can be playful and fun. This includes language learning through movies, poetry and music. You can engage with the computer and improve pronunciation through speech-recognition software.

- With over 70 different languages from Arabic to Yiddish -
After connecting to the database using the link above, sign up for your own individual account.
Then log in, choose your level of language proficiency and conversational topic, and enjoy your language-learning experience!

Look for the option below the login boxes to explore the site as a guest.

You can explore the site as a guest or create a free account to save progress.

Type Korean into the "Pick a Language" box to see what resources are available.

You can also get a Mango APP for your handheld device.

Pronunciator Language Software

Pronunciator is a language learning software database BYU students can use to supplement coursework, maintain and improve language skills, or just learn a new language in ways that can be playful and fun. This includes language learning (for the most common languages) through movies, poetry and music -- and a virtual tutor. You can engage with the computer and improve pronunciation through speech-recognition software.

With 80 different languages from Afrikaans to Welsh

Try it with "instant access" then type Korean in the "I want to learn _________." box.

After connecting to the database using the link above, sign up for your own individual account to save your progress, then log in, choose your level of language proficiency and conversational topic, and enjoy your language-learning experience!

Once you are a registered user, you can go directly to www.pronunciator.com

PLUS you can get a Pronunciator APP for your handheld device.

Websites for learning about North and South Korea

Database Center for North Korean Human Rights 북한인권정보센터

Information Center on North Korea 북한자료센터 provides extensive information resources on North Korea presented by the Ministry of Unification. Included are links to North Korean films, text books, comics, and much more. It also provides a portal, entitled Bukhan Chongbo Potal (북한정보포털).

Institute of North Korean Studies 북한연구소 provides information on North Korea and unification. Included is information about NK, bibliographical information of books and serials, streaming, photos, and so on.

Ministry of Unification 통일부

North Korean Encyclopedia 북한백과 this information blog on North Korea developed by KBS provides information on the North Korean people, NK economics, arts, geography, and much more.

North Korea Human Geography 북한지역 정보넷 provides a comprehensive database with these categories: administraive distric information; natural geographical information; human geographical information; treasures and cultural properties; biographical information; folk culture; and multimedia

North Korea International Documentation Project

Pukhan net 북한네트 provided by the Chungang Ilbosa, this website contains detailed information on North Korea including current news, politics, economics, and much more.

The South-North Dialogue 남북회담본부 provides records and minutes about the dialogues between South Korea and North Korea.

UNIL/W 통일법제 데이터베이스 a full text database which includes law information regarding unification and the relationship between South and North Korea.

Uriminjokkiri 우리민족끼리 provides North Korean news from North Korea's Central News Agency. The contents include current news, the Korean Democratic Party, press releases, articles, literature, arts (movies, music) newspapers (Nodong Sinmun), etc.