Introduction

Finding journal or newspaper articles involves a few more steps than finding books, but is a requirement for university research, and is always worth the effort.

The first thing to know is that you cannot find individual articles listed in the library catalogue. You must use a different tool (often called a journal article database) to do this. Using an article database allows you to search hundreds of different journals at once!

The library subscribes to many different article databases, some of which are devoted to a single subject (such as Sociological Abstracts) and others which cover a range of subjects (such as Academic Search Complete ).

All databases will provide citation information (ex: name of the article, article author(s), journal name, page numbers, etc.). Some databases will provide abstracts (article summaries) which are very useful in determining the value of the article. Many databases will include the full-text of the article. You can read the articles online, print them, save them, or e-mail them to yourself.

Where to Start?

To find out which databases are most appropriate to your topic, go to the Library's Subject page. From this list, select the subject that fits most closely to your topic; you will then see a listing of appropriate databases under the Journal Articles tab. The Best Bets are the recommended databases for your subject area. There are additional databases listed under the heading Other Suggestions.

Search Tips:

While article databases have a variety of interfaces, or appearances, the strategy for searching them is generally the same. To search an article database:

• Go to the search page
• Enter your search terms into the search box. Think of the best words that describe your topic.
• For the best results, combine keywords using AND & OR.
• Another useful search technique is called “truncation” (e.g., farm*). This broadens your search, allowing you to easily search for many words at once. Farm* would search for farm, farms, farmer, farmers, farming, etc.

• If you cannot think of keywords or if your search is unsuccessful, ask for help!
• Once you have entered your keywords, select the search button. This will produce a list of results.
• If you don’t have enough results, broaden your search using more keywords joined by OR.
• If you have too many results, narrow your search using more keywords joined by AND.
• The result list will consist of article titles, article authors, journal titles, journal volume, numbers, dates, and other related information (you will need this for your bibliography.
• To access the full-text of an article, look for the following options: pdf full-text, html full-text, linked full-text, etc. Click that link to read the complete article online. If one of these options in not available, review the section below.

Getting the Article:

If the article is not immediately available as full-text, it may be available in full-text in another database. When you are searching in a database, click on the button (if available), to see if your article(s) are available electronically in another source.

A new window will open with indicating if the Library has access (online and/or print) to your article:

"Available online" - the Library has electronic access to your article - click on the GO icon to view the full-text.

"Available in the library" - the Library has a print subscription to your article - the Library location and call number will be noted beneath this notation.  Note: Some older journal issues may be in Storage.

"The U of S Library does not own this item" - the Library does not have access to your article (either print or electronically). You can complete an InterLibrary request at this stage.

Guides to Selected Databases:

See the current list of help guides for selected databases. Also, use the Help feature that is available in the database you are searching.