Selecting a database
A good place to start when you are searching for articles is one of the library online databases. The library subscribes to many databases which are like indexes to different journals, magazines and newspapers. You can search for articles by topic or, if you already know the information, by author or title. Many of the databases have the full text of the article available so you can just download or print a copy.
- Go to the Library home page and click on Databases (under Find It). This will take you to an alphabetical list of all our databases.
- To see a list of databases recommended for a specific discipline, use the Filter drop-down on the database page. Select a general topic area from the drop-down and click Search.
- Mouse over the red information icon next to the name of the database. This tells you more about the database and the topics and time periods it covers.
Searching a database
The most effective way to search the online databases is to enter terms or keywords that effectively describe your topic.
- Use broad, meaningful keywords when you search. Don't use sentences or phrases.
- Use just a few keywords (1-3). You can always add keywords later if you need to refine your search.
- Use the facets or limits to help refine you search. For example, you can narrow your search by date or by geographic region.
- When you review your results, look at the abstracts or subject headings for other keywords you can use to improve your search.
- Be prepared to do several searches. Research is a process that takes time.
Google Scholar
With Google Scholar you can search broadly (across several disciplines) with one search. You can use Google Scholar to find peer-reviewed articles, but you will also find pre-print copies of articles, conference papers, white papers, patents, legal opinions and more.
- Before you start -- go to Scholar Preferences (click the gear icon in the upper right corner) and enter Oregon State University in the Library Links field. Save your preferences.
- Enter your keywords in the search box.
- Browse results, making sure to use the library's subscriptions to get access the text of the articles where you can.Use the Get This Item at OSU link on the left to access the article.
Smart searching
When searching in catalogs and databases:
- Be creative in the words you use; if one doesn't work, try something else. Think of words with related meaning, such as natural resource management or restoration or conservation.
- Begin with keywords, and use the subjects found in the articles that come up to find more information
- Use quotation marks around phrases, so they won't be searched as individual words.
- Use advanced search features in catalogs and databases to limit by date, language, type of article, etc
For more in-depth information about developing advanced search strategies, check out a tutorial from Purdue University at http://gemini.lib.purdue.edu/core/files/strategies0.html
1Search
This search engine streamlines your research process by finding library content across all our various resources--especially helpful when starting your search. Use it to discover books, documents, videos and online articles. If you need to find specific items, such as books by a particular author, use the advanced search option for more precise searching.
Databases
Databases and other recommended sources.
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Academic Search Premier
Academic Search Premier provides full text for nearly 4,600 scholarly publications, including full text for more than 3,500 peer-reviewed journals. Coverage spans virtually every area of academic study and offers information dating as far back as 1975. This database is updated daily on EBSCOhost.
Full-text and abstract/index: 1975-present
Concurrent Users: unlimited
Coverage Dates: 1975 - present -
Academic OneFile
The premier source for peer-reviewed, full-text articles from the world's leading journals and reference sources. Extensive coverage of the sciences, technology, medicine, the arts, theology, literature and other subjects - authoritative and comprehensive. Millions of articles available in both PDF and HTML full-text with no restrictions; updated daily.
Coverage Dates: 1980 - present -
America's Historical Newspapers
Also known as Early American Newspapers, Series I, 1690-1876. This historical collection contains hundreds of historic newspapers listed in Clarence Brigham's authoritative bibliography and in additional subsequent bibliographies. Coverage: 1690-1876.
Concurrent Users: unlimited
Coverage Dates: 1690 - 1876 -
Abstracts in Anthropology
The only comprehensive abstracting journal in the field, Abstracts in Anthropology has established itself as an indispensable reference and research tool for the international community of anthropologists. Abstracts in Anthropology covers a broad spectrum of significant, current anthropological topics from a vast number of periodicals.
Concurrent Users: unlimited
Coverage Dates: 2002 - present -
Anthrosource
Full text access to 32 AAA journals.
Coverage Dates: 1972 - present -
JSTOR
An archival collection of journal articles that includes over 140 titles in the humanities, social sciences and sciences. It does not provide access to the most current issues of the journals. JSTOR's agreements with publishers include a gap between the most recently published issue and the date of the most recent issues available in JSTOR ranging, in most cases, from 2 to 5 years. OSU Libraries subscribes to Arts & Sciences I, Ecology & Botany and the General Science Collections. Full Text: Dates vary by journal
Concurrent Users: unlimited
Coverage Dates: - Varies by Journal -
JSTOR Plant Science
JSTOR Plant Science offers access to botanical and other resources from around the world including: The world’s largest database of plant type specimens representing the botanical diversity of the planet. More than 600,000 specimens are available today. When complete, there will be an estimated 2.2 million. Over 175,000 scientific research articles and other content dating back hundreds of years from leading academic journals including Kew Bulletin, Mycologia, International Journal of Plant Sciences, Science, PNAS, and others. Foundational reference works and books such as The Useful Plants of West Tropical Africa, Flowering Plants of South Africa, and illustrations from Curtis’s Botanical Magazine.A significant set of correspondence, including Kew’s Directors’ Correspondence which included hand-written letters and memorandum from the senior staff of Kew from 1841 to 1928. More than 20,000 paintings, photographs, drawings, and other images.
Coverage Dates: 1816 - -
LexisNexis Academic
(Formerly Academic Universe)Comprehensive index to newspaper and magazine articles, radio and TV news program transcripts, legal material and other reference sources. Primarily focused on news, business and legal topics.
Includes full-text.
Concurrent Users: unlimited
Coverage Dates: - Varies by title -
Legal Collection
This database contains full text for more than 260 of the world's most respected, scholarly law journals. The Legal Collection is an authoritative source for information on current issues, studies, thoughts and trends of the legal world.
Concurrent Users: unlimited
Coverage Dates: 1965 - present -
LegalTrac
Provides full-text coverage of major law reviews, legal newspapers, bar association journals and international legal journals offers law students, faculty and legal researchers the publications they need for their research and practicum. Each title included is selected on the basis of criteria provided the American Association of Law Libraries.
Coverage Dates: 1980 - present -
Medline (EBSCOhost)
MEDLINE provides authoritative medical information on medicine, nursing, dentistry, veterinary medicine, the health care system, pre-clinical sciences, and much more. Created by the National Library of Medicine, MEDLINE allows users to search abstracts from over 4,600 current biomedical journals.
Concurrent Users: unlimited
Coverage Dates: 1950 - present -
Oxford English Dictionary (OED) Online
The Oxford English Dictionary is the accepted authority on the evolution of the English language over the last millennium. It is an unsurpassed guide to the meaning, history, and pronunciation of over half a million words, both present and past. It traces the usage of words through 2.5 million quotations from a wide range of international English language sources, from classic literature and specialist periodicals to film scripts and cookery books.
Coverage Dates: - - - -
PsycInfo (via PsycNET)
Index to journal articles, series and books for all areas of psychology including animal, applied, clinical, developmental, educational, general, human experimental, general, physiological, social and sport psychology, and treatment and prevention.
Abstracts and index: 1887-present
Coverage Dates: 1887 - present -
Project Muse
Launched in 1995 by the Johns Hopkins University Press in collaboration with the Milton S. Eisenhower Library at John Hopkins University, Project MUSE is an interdisciplinary collection of high quality, peer reviewed journals.
Concurrent Users: unlimited
Coverage Dates: - Varies by journal -
Sociological Abstracts
Index to articles from journals in sociology, social work and other social sciences.
Abstracts and index: 1963-present
Coverage Dates: 1963 - present -
Toxicology Abstracts (part of ESPM)
Toxicology Abstracts covers issues from social poisons and substance abuse to natural toxins, from legislation and recommended standards to environmental issues. Surveying the literature for toxicology studies of industrial and agricultural chemicals, household products, pharmaceuticals, and myriad other substances, each issue publishes information concerning the in vivo effects of toxic substances. Topics of current concern such as the effects of alcohol and smoking, drug abuse, hydrocarbon studies, nitrosamines, radiation and radioactive materials, and much more are extensively examined. Toxicity testing methodology and analytical procedures for toxic substances are also covered. Through many years of delivering crucial information on the tough, far-reaching issues of toxicology, Toxicology Abstracts has become the single most widely-used journal in this field.
Coverage Dates: 1981 - present -
TOXLINE
TOXLINE on this service offers rapid access to information in all areas of toxicology, including chemicals and pharmaceuticals, pesticides, environmental pollutants, and mutagens and teratogens. This database provides bibliographic citations and abstracts from journal articles, monographs, technical reports, theses, letters, meeting abstracts, papers and reports. Produced by the U.S. National Library of Medicine, information in the database is drawn from a number of discrete files including Toxicity Bibliography and Developmental and Reproductive Toxicology. This version of TOXLINE does not contain information from Chemical Abstracts Service, BIOSIS, or International Pharmaceutical Abstracts; furthermore, it is a "rolling 5-year" database, consisting of records from the last 5 years plus the current year.
Coverage Dates: 1994 - present -
Web of Science
The web version of Science Citation Index (SCI) and Social Science Citation Index (SSCI). The Web of Science accesses a multidisciplinary database of bibliographic information gathered from thousands of scholarly journals. The databases are indexed so you can search for specific articles by subject, author, journal, and/or author address. Because the information stored about each article includes the article's cited reference list (often called its bibliography), you can also search the databases for articles that cite a known author or work.
Science Citation Index 1970-present
Social Science Citation Index 1970-present
Concurrent Users: unlimited
Coverage Dates: 1970 - present
Finding the full text of an article
Locating articles: Once you find your citation, you will need to locate the journal to read the article. Some citations will have the full-text of the article available online. For others, click on this button:
to see if OSU subscribes to the electronic or the paper copy of the journal. 360 will open a new window and will display a link to full-text when available. If it's not, click the link to the library catalog to check for a paper copy. If neither is available, request the article from Interlibrary Loan: http://osulibrary.orst.edu/ill/.
Finding a specific article
If you have an article citation and want to find that specific article, you can find it several ways.
- 1Search - Use the article title. It is often useful to put quotes around the article title to find the exact title you want.
- Example: "Feasability of a Home-Delivered Internet Obesity Prevention Program for Fourth-Grade Students"
- OSU Libraries catalog - Use the journal title, then navigate to the article using the date, volume, issue and page number information. <Learn More>
- Google Scholar - Use the article title. Again, it is often useful to put quotes around the article title to find the exact title you want. If you find articles that are not freely available, be sure to set up your Google Scholar preferences to talk to the OSU Libraries, or search the e-journals or catalog to see if we have the article. <Learn More>
Techniques you can use to find more specific articles include author searching, cited reference searching and using the references at the end of a good article.
If you are unsure about how to read an article citation or how to tell the difference between article and journal titles and how to keep track of necessary information like the volume, issue and page numbers, read more in this tutorial. <Learn More>
Last Update: March 02, 2012 12:05
