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Finding journal articles is a difficult and often confusing task in a
library system with over 40 departmental libraries and reading rooms,
access to hundreds of article databases and a multitude of online and
print resources. This tutorial will help to organize your thoughts and
speed you through the maze. For more in-depth research help, stop in the
Education and Social Science Library (room 100, Main Library), email us
at educlib@uiuc.edu, or phone us
at 333-2305.
1. Determine your search strategy:
Step 1: Choose the topic. Example: "Internet"
Step 2: Narrow down your topic. Example: "How does the internet
affect mental health?"
Step 3: Decide on search terms. "internet" "mental health"
2. Choose an article database
The UIUC Library system has access to hundreds of article databases via
the UIUC Library's Online Research Resources database. In
addition, each departmental library has a homepage with links to the most
common databases in their particular disciplines. The Education
and Social Science Library homepage has links to frequently used article
databases in the social sciences like ERIC, PsycInfo, and
International Political Science Abstracts. You can also access recommended databases by disclipline using the subject links along the left hand side of the page.
General databases: cover a wide variety of topics
Expanded Academic Index, Periodical Abstracts
Discipline-specific databases: cover many subject areas within
a particular academic discipline
Sociological Abstracts (criminal justice, social welfare, sociology)
Subject-specific databases: cover one specific subject area
ERIC (education), PsycInfo (psychology)
3. Search an article database
for relevant articles
After you choose an article database(s), you need to search for relevant
articles. Here are some tips:
Step 1: Type your search term or terms
Step 2: Refine search as needed to find more or fewer articles. See
"Refining Your Search" for guidelines on this process.
Step 3: Print, save to a disk or email citations of relevant articles
Step 4: Evaluate results and revise as needed
Step 5: Locate journal articles in the library
4. Locate journal articles
This is often the most difficult step. After you have found the articles that you want, there are three ways to find journal articles:
- In many cases, the full text of articles can be accessed online, either directly through the database or via a separate database or standalone electronic subscription. To check full text availability, go to the Online Research Resources page. Click the Journals and Newspapers tab, choose the "Start of Title" search option, and type in the first few words of the journal title (omitting "The"). The search results will show you your options for full text access. Often there are multiple options--in these cases, pay attention to coverage date ranges to make sure they match your citation. The ORR help page provides additional instructions for using the database. The key thing to remember when using the ORR is that you're searching for journal titles, not the titles of specific articles. Once you find the journal you need, you then locate the specific article, usually by date or volume/issue number.
- If the journal you need is not available online, or if the online coverage falls outside of your date range, you will want to check the library catalog to see whether UIUC owns print copies of the title. Do a Quick Search, and select "Start of Magazine/Journal Title" in the right-hand area. Then, type in the first few words of the title of the journal you need, omitting initial "The"s. Since single titles are often housed in more than one library on campus (depending on the date range), interpreting catalog records for journals can be challenging. For tips on figuring out where the journal you need is, see our primer on interpreting catalog records for journals.
- If all else fails and there are no electronic or print versions available, there is always the option of requesting an article photocopy through the Interlibrary Loan office. This service is free of charge to UIUC students and faculty. Requests usually take about a week to fulfill, and are generally delivered to you electronically as a PDF. Additional instructions.
* Please Note: The Education and Social Science Library organizes
their journals alphabetically by title. However, we generally keep only
the most recent three to ten years (depending on the title) and put older
volumes in the main stacks.
Glossary
Citation: The relevant information about an article, including
journal name (sometimes called "source"), date and volume
number, and page numbers.
Ex. The Dynamics of Latino Political Incorporation: The 2001 Los Angeles
Mayoral Election as Seen in Los Angeles Times Exit Polls. Ps: Political
Science & Politics. v. 35 no1, Mar. 2002, p. 67-74.
Database: A database is a collection of organized data that
a person can use to quickly retrieve information. A database can be
as simple as rolodex of recipes, or as sophisticated as Illinet, the
online catalog. Most of the UIUC Library databases are electronic periodical
indexes of citations, abstracts, or full-text periodical articles from
journals, newspapers, historical documents, or other literary works.
It is important to remember that although full-text databases offer
quick and easy access to articles, they generally do not offer access
to as many different journals as indexes and abstracts. Therefore, coverage
is usually far less than what is found in database indexes and abstracts.
Magazine vs. academic (or scholarly) journal: Magazines are popular
journals that DO NOT CITE THEIR SOURCES. So while they are good sources
for background material, you should not expect them to provide you with
bibliographies or other cited works for additional reference. Examples
of popular journals would include such publications as Time, Newsweek,
US News and World Reports and Vogue. Scholarly journals publish
articles written by specialists and experts doing original research
within a particular field of study whose information and data have been
extensively checked and documented with bibliographies of resources
included. Many scholarly journals are peer-reviewed (also known as refereed).
If a scholarly article has been peer-reviewed, that means it has gone
through a process in which a panel board of experts (usually other academics)
have reviewed its contents and decided it was acceptable for publication.
Examples of peer-reviewed journals include Governance, Journal
of Comparative Psychology, Journal of Anthropological Research,
Journal of European Social Policy, and Journal of Experimental
Education.
Periodicals: Periodicals (also known as serials) are publications
printed "periodically", either daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly,
or on an annual basis. The terms periodical, serial, magazine, and journal,
are often used interchangeably; however, there are discernable differences
among them. Regardless of how they are referred to, the most important
thing you will need to know about periodicals is how to evaluate one
type from another. (see "Magazine vs academic journal" above).
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