How to find Journal Articles

Henry Buhl Library

Finding Journal Articles:

To find journal articles on your topic, use the Library's databases. You may need to use more than one database to find all the information you need. Some databases provide the full text of an article; others will only provide the article title, author, journal details, and an abstract. Check the Library's Journal List to see if we own a particular journal.

Step 1: Select a database:

Buhl Library has over 60 databases to choose from! How do you decide which one to use? Our research guides will help you find the right database!

Looking for a particular subject?

Step 2: Think of keywords about your topic:

Think about your topic. If you don't know a lot about your subject, get some background information (Encyclopaedia Britannica Online is a great place to start!). Think of keywords pertinent to your topic which could be used as search terms. If your database has a thesaurus, USE IT!

Step 3: Begin Searching:

Tips for searching --

If you get 100+ hits on your search, try narrowing your topic by adding other keywords to your search.
If you get only a few hits, read the abstracts (or do a quick read of the article if it doesn't have an abstract) to find other terminology or names of people that you can search for.
Don't search for "full text articles only." If one database doesn't have the full text of a particular article, you may be able to find it in another database! Some fabulous (and scholarly, refereed) journals do NOT permit any electronic rights, so we make sure we have some of those journals in print (the old fashioned way!).
If you still can't find what you need, stop by the reference desk and ask for help! Sometimes just bouncing ideas off someone else can help!

Step 4: Retrieving your articles:

IS it full text? .PDF or HTML? Great! Look for print instructions in that database and go for it! (Most of our databases have special print options to help you save toner. Follow the links and your article will be re-formatted to fit correctly on the paper.) You can always EMAIL your searches and/or save them for later!!!

NOT full text? OK, a few more steps are involved. Best bet is to open a new window and select our Journal List link, which takes you to our journals holdings page. You just need to type (or copy/paste) the journal title into the search box to see if we have the journal.

Note that if the journal is not available online, it may be available in print. Click on the Print Holdings link which takes to you to HENRY, our library catalog. Type the journal title into the search box to see the journal's location information.

We don't have access? We can get the article you need via DOCUMENT DELIVERY. Follow this link to get the details!