HOW TO FIND ARTICLES USING AN INDEX
There are two steps to finding an article in a journal or magazine. The first is to locate an appropriate article; the second is to find the journal or magazine that contains it.
- Finding Articles: Using an Index
Sample Search of an Index
Choosing the Appropriate Index(es)
Scholarly Journal Articles v. Magazine Articles
- Finding Journals and Magazines
Access to Journals / Magazines in Paper or Microform
Access to Electronic Journals / Magazines
Journal Finder
Finding Articles: Using an Index
The best resource for locating articles in a journal or a magazine is an article index. These indexes are databases that arrange articles by subject and provide information on what journal, magazine, or newspaper contains them.
- Hackney Library subscribes to a number of indexes through the internet and several in paper format.
- To see an alphabetical list by index title with annotations of all the indexes available either in print or online, see our Journal / Magazine Article Indexes by Index Title page.
- To see a list by subject of the indexes we have available, either print or online, see our Journal and Magazine Article Indexes by Subject page.
- For more information on format and access to these indexes, see our Access to Journal Indexes and Other Online Resources page.
Searching an Online Index for an Article: A Sample Search
Suppose you were searching for articles on "year round school". If you consulted the index Academic Search Premier, just one of the many indexes the library subscribes to through the internet, you would find over 100 articles listed under the keywords "year round school".
- Understanding the Search Results
- As indicated in the example below, Citation #4 reads: Year-Round Schools Look Better All the Time.; By: St. Gerard, Vanessa. Education Digest, Apr2007, Vol. 72 Issue 8, p56-58, 3p;
- Interpretation of the Citation:
- Obtaining Access to the Article
Sometimes, however, the full text of an article is not available in the index in which you located the citation, as indicated by the highlighted "Check Journal Finder for full text availability" link in the following screen shot for Citation #5:
To find out whether we have the journal Times Educational Supplement (or any journal, magazine, or newspaper you are looking for), consult Journal Finder in one of two ways, either by:
- Clicking on the "Check Journal Finder for full-text availability" link beneath the article reference in a database list, like in the above example, or
- Going to the "Journal Finder" section on our library home page and typing in the name of the journal or magazine title.
(For more information about how to use Journal Finder, see the Journal Finder section on this page.)
| Title of Article: | Year-Round Schools Look Better All the Time |
| Author of Article: | Vanessa St. Gerard |
| Journal Title: | Education Digest |
| Volume in Journal: | 72 |
| Issue in Journal: | 8 |
| Page of Article: | 56-58 |
| Date of Article: | April 2007 |
| Other Information: | 3 pages long |
Again using Citation #4 as an example, the highlighted links indicate that the full text of this article is available in either HTML or in PDF format, by clicking on the respective link, as illustrated in the following screen shot:
Choosing the Appropriate Index or Indexes
- Subject-Specific Indexes
- The Business Source Complete index covers primarily business publications;
- The ERIC index covers education journals, etc.
- Journal and Magazine Article Indexes by Subject provides a complete list of indexes by the subject areas they cover.
- General Indexes
In addition to many indexes in subject areas, Hackney Library provides access to two "general with full-text" indexes: Academic Search Complete, which is an NCLIVE database, and OmniFile Full Text Mega Edition, which is not an NCLIVE database. They both cover journals in all academic disciplines and have the added benefit of providing complete articles for many of the citations.
- Links to both databases are located in the "Articles Plus" tab on our home page.
Hackney Library provides access to many indexes on a wide variety of subject areas. The types of journals and magazines included in an index determine what topics it covers most effectively.
For example,
Although some indexes may have a number of features in common, such as general format and purpose, no two indexes are exactly alike. It is important to know the scope, general characteristics and unique features of the indexes you use in order to benefit fully from them.
Finding Journals and Magazines:
Hackney Library has holdings for approximately 1,100 journals and magazines physically housed within the building in three different formats: paper, microfiche, and microfilm. One hundred fifty-five of these are current subscriptions. The remaining titles are for journals and magazines to which the library no longer subscribes but keeps the back issues.
The library also subscribes to over 17,500 electronic journals and magazines, most of which are available online from both on and off campus.
Access to In-House Journals and Magazines: Paper, Microfiche and Microfilm
- Paper (print) periodicals are housed in open shelves on the first floor and are arranged alphabetically from A to Z according to the journal or magazine's title.
- The library binds many of its paper periodicals so that they can serve as permanent sources of information.
- Loose issues of a magazine or journal in paper format that have not yet been bound can be found in boxes next to the bound volumes in the periodicals section on the first floor of the library.
- If you do not find the most current issue of a particular paper-format periodical, check the periodical display shelf on the first floor, where we place the most current issue of some of our most popular periodicals.
- Microfiche journals and magazines are located in metal cabinets in the microform room in the northwest corner of the library on the second floor.
- The microfiche are arranged alphabetically by title within the cabinet drawers.
- Microfilm journals, magazines and newspapers are found in metal file cabinets in the microform room in the northwest corner of the library on the second floor.
- Microfilm titles are also arranged alphabetically by title within the cabinet drawers.
Access to Journals and Magazines: Electronic Format
Hackney Library also has access to a large number of online databases in which the full text of journal and magazine articles is provided. These come both from NCLIVE databases and from individual databases that our library purchases separately from NCLIVE (for example, PsycArticles and MLA International Bibliography).
To determine what journals, magazines, and newspapers are available within the library (in paper, microfiche, or microfilm format), or are available full text online, use the Journal Finder tool in the "Journal Finder" section of our home page, as pictured below:
(You may also access Journal Finder from within many databases by clicking on the "Check Journal Finder for full-text availability" link in the results lists resulting from searches, as highlighted in blue in the citation below:)
How to Use Journal Finder
- Type in the title of the journal, magazine, or newspaper you are looking for in the space provided, as illustrated below, then click "search":
- Examine the holdings information that gives you information on the format and dates of coverage for each title (in this case, Newsweek), as pictured below (note that Journal Finder pulls up every title containing the word(s) you typed in, so make sure to choose the correct title!):
- In Journal Finder, access to the full text of the journal:
- through online databases is denoted by a computer monitor icon
- within the library is denoted by an open book icon
- In some cases, we have a journal or magazine full text in both print and online versions, so in those cases, you have a choice of format, as in the Newsweek example above.
- If a periodical title is not available either in-house or online, the resulting Journal Finder screen gives you the following options:
- Clicking on the envelope icon
, from which you can request the article through an interlibrary loan. - Clicking on the yellow car icon
to search the catalogs of other libraries in the region to see if they have access to the journal in which the article you want is published. - The following message appears if the journal is only available through interlibrary loan (ILL):
How to Access Journals through Journal Finder
- To access the online version of a journal article, do the following:
- Click on the computer monitor icon
- Then, click on the journal title (in the example below, Newsweek) to enter a database providing that journal full text:
- Depending on the database:
- Click on the appropriate year, then on the appropriate issue for your article, and browse to find your article; or
- Refine your search further by date by typing in the month and year of your article in the "refine search" screen. Then view the results, browsing for the title of your article.
- To see what journal or magazine issues we have within the library, do the following:
- Click on the open book icon
- Look to see what format and what range of dates we have from the holdings screen in our catalog for that journal title. (Print is denoted as paper, microfilm as microfilm, and microfiche as microfiche in our catalog), as pictured for Newsweek below:
(Note: Several databases provide full-text access to Newsweek, so take note of the "Full-Text Begins" and "Full-Text Ends" dates of coverage on the right side of the Journal Finder screen to make sure that your article is included in the range of issues in the database you choose! If there is no "Full-Text Ends" date, then it is available through the most recent issue):
(For help with accessing articles online, consult a reference librarian at x6502 or at reference@barton.edu.)
Are you looking for books instead of articles? See our Finding Books page for assistance with that search. For additional assistance, see our general Help page, or contact the reference desk at (252) 399-6502 or at reference@barton.edu.
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Last updated November 12, 2008
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