1. Introduction

2. Why use the Library?

3. Library Password

4. Boolean Searching

5. Library Catalog
  • How to Find Books
  • How to Find Journals

6. Databases
  • Search for Articles
  • Find Articles

7. Discipline Specific Resources

8. Web Resources

9. How to Get Help

10. Library Exercise

6. Databases: Finding the Article

Once you decide which articles you want to read, you need to find out if the Library has access to the journals where the articles appear.

The first step is to look for a Full Text indicator (button, icon, link) within the article citation. In Applied Science Full Text, both icons and text are used. In this example the article is available in HTML (text, no images) and PDF (page images). To see this article, just click the link for the format you prefer.

Sometimes, the full text article is not available in the database. Most of the results of our fuel cell search are like the example below - no full text links in the citation. When the database does not have full text links for the article, use FindIt!.

Use Find It to Get the Article

When the citation does not have a full text link, look for the Find It button. Find It links from citations in databases to articles in electronic journals. You will see FindIt links in most of our databases.

To find the article in the above citation, start by clicking the Find It button or link. Find It always generates a menu with options for finding that specific article. Here's the FindIt menu for the article cited above:

We have a subscription to the journal, so the first option is to connect to the article. Just click the Full Text Available link, and you'll be connected to the journal on the publisher's website. With most journals you'll be connected directly to the article. Sometimes you'll be connected to the table of contents and you'll have to browse a bit for your article.

If we do not have access to the electronic version of the journal, the menu will say that no full text is available. Then you'll have to try the Library Catalog or other options on the Find It menu.

And notice that the Find It menu offers additional options: linking to LINK+, Ask-A-Librarian, connecting to Google for a search on the topic of the article. Note: you'll have to click More Options for some of these features.

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