Library and Internet Skills

How to Find Journal Articles

Is the article full-text online? (Or, where's the article?)

Some databases include the full text of the article online. Many only include citations, and possibly abstracts.

You can find out if a database provides any full-text articles before you choose it by clicking on 'More Info' after the database name, or by consulting the database 'help.'

In a full-text database, once you have found a list of articles on your subject, it will indicate which are full-text, and which are not. If the article is available full-text, you will be able to read it on the screen, to print it, to download it, and possibly to e-mail it depending on the database.

If the full-text is not available in your index, you will need to use the information in the citation to find it elsewhere.