Finding Journal and Magazine Articles Guide

The Library's Online Databases are a starting point for searching millions of articles.
The Library provides access to nearly 50 databases, most containing full-text articles.  Use these databases to find popular, professional, and scholarly articles from magazines, journals, and newspapers on a wide variety of topics.  Generally online database sources are digitized versions of print sources and are considered a print source for most assignments. 

To access the online databases, click on Research Tools on the Library's home page, followed by the Article Database List link. Try more than one database for researching your topic because each database has different content.

Off-Campus Users: Follow these instructions for remote access to article online databases. If you have any questions about the online databases or need assistance with browser configuration, please call the LRC Reference Desk at (708) 974-5234.

Contents of this page:

How do I begin my search?
How do I choose a database?
How do I refine my search? 
How do I search a database?
How do I know if a particular article is a good source?
How do I cite what I find in the online databases?
How do I retrieve the full text of an article?
How can I get help? 

How do I begin my search?

Begin by narrowing your research topic to a manageable focus. For example, the term "terrorism" covers a lot of ground. A search in the Expanded Academic database will return over 28,000 articles on the topic, including articles on terrorism and insurance, biological terrorism, terrorism and law enforcement, etc.  In this example focusing on one aspect of terrorism would result in fewer and more focused articles and lead to a better focused paper.

How do I choose a database?

Select a database appropriate to your subject by reading the descriptions of the databases.  A general subject database is usually a good place to start, but specialized databases may lead to more focused and scholarly material on your topic.  Always search in more than one database.
If you know the name of a journal or magazine you want to search, but don't know in which database(s) it is included, click on Search by Publication under Articles and Other Sources.


How do I refine my search?

Identify the words that represent the important concepts in your topic.  Next find synonyms for these important concepts. These concepts and synonyms will be the search terms you use to search the library catalog and databases.

How do I search a Database? 

Most online databases have a "Basic Search" and an "Advanced Search."  The "Basic Search" option works well for simple searches, but choose the "Advanced Search" options for refining your search.  Databases will provide various types of searching like: Boolean, keyword, limiters, field searching, and subject browsing.  Check the help menu of the database to learn how each search works in the particular database you are using.  

Boolean Searching
Boolean searching allows you to combine terms in your search.  It uses the Boolean operators and, or, and not. 

• Use the and operator to find two or more words in a record
  
  In the above search, the database will look for articles with both the word Bears and the word football in the record.
• Use the or operator to find one of two words in a record.
  
  In the above search, the database will look for records that include one or both of the two words Dionysus or Bacchus. 
•  You can combine these operators by using parentheses.
  

 

Truncation
Use truncation to search for various forms of a word.  You can use a truncation symbol to substitute letters or parts of a word.  Most databases use the asterisk (*) as the symbol for truncation.

The above search will retrieve the following words: plant, plants, planted, planting, planter, planters, plantation, plantations, etc. 

 

Wildcards

In most databases wildcards are represented by a question mark.  Use wildcards to replace letters in a word. 

The above search would search for the words woman and women at the same time.  Each question mark stands for one letter, so if you searched for plant?? you would be searching for planter and planted but not planting.

 

Limiting Searches
Using limits will help you save time by performing efficient searches.   

• Limiting by Date
  You can limit your search to a range of dates. Each database handles dates differently, so consult the help menu in the database to learn how to properly use this limit.
• Limiting to Full-Text
  You can limit your searches to full-text articles only. This allows you to print full articles from home.  Use this limit with caution since it excludes articles that could be valuable to your research.  
• Limiting to Peer Reviewed/Refereed Publications
  By limiting to peer reviewed/referred publications, you are telling the database to only look for articles in academic (research) journals.  This limit is a great way to find expert opinions and strengthen your research.

 

Field Searching

Each article record is divided into sections called fields.  There are usually fields for author, article title, publication title (name of magazine or journal), publication date, and page number.

You can search each of these fields individually.  This is a great way to find a particular article (search article title), search for articles in a specific journal or magazine (search publication title), or search for an author (search author field).  Each database has a different method for field searching, so read the help screen. 

Full-text Searching

For this type of search, you enter a term and the database searches for that term everywhere in the article record.  It searches for the term in the full-text of the article, article title, publication title, and subject headings.  It searches every word that is in the article record.  If the search term is found, then that article is added to the results list.  Full-text searching can be a imprecise way to search, since it finds words wherever they appear.  Many words are used in multiple contexts, so you will retrieve some results that are not useful.  However, the full-text search is a way to dig down in the text of the article to find words that may not appear in the subject headings or in the article title. 

Subject Searching

In most databases articles are indexed by subject.  If you enter a general subject term you will be given a list of articles indexed under that subject.  You may also be offered a list of subheadings to choose from to narrow your search further.  Browsing subject offerings can be very helpful when you are unsure of your topic.

How do I retrieve the full-text of an article?

Often a database will provide the fulltext of articles. However, if the database only provides a citation or a citation with abstract you will need to take further steps.

To retrieve the fulltext of an article when all you have is a citation do the following:

• Perform a title search for the magazine or journal title in the library catalog

• The catalog will indicate if the library owns the print version of the title or has access to it through another database.  If the catalog shows an electronic resource version of the title you may click on the link to view the fulltext of the magazine or journal. 

• The link will take you to a database where you can look up the article by date and issue number or search the publication for the articles title. 

• You can also do a Search by Publication for the title of the journal or magazine.
• If the library does not have the magazine/journal in print or have access to the online version you may order the article through interlibrary loan.  Fill out the information on the interlibrary loan online form (you must be registered with the library to do this) and the library will order a copy of the article from another library.  There is usually no charge for this service.
• When in doubt ask a librarian for help.

How do I cite what I find in the online databases?

Check the Library's online Citing Sources research guide for details on citing.  Remember that if you use an article found in an online database, most styles require you to note the date you retrieved the article and the database you retrieved it from.  Sometimes you are also required to include the library you used to access the database.

Refer also to the Library's reference/reserve (non-circulating) copies of:

• The MLA handbook for writers of research papers for MLA formatting
• The Publication manual of the American Psychological Association for APA formatting

How can I get help?

• Most databases have a Help or "Search Tips" link that will give you information about searching subject headings, wildcards and truncation, etc.
• Visit the Library's Information Desk in person.
• Call the Information Desk at 708-974-5234.
• Email a question to the Information Desk at library@morainevalley.edu.

Remember though, librarians will help guide you through your research but will not do your work for you.

This Research Guide was created on 12/9/04 by Lee Semmerling