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How to Find Articles

Having trouble finding articles? Find out where to start, and what to do when the article you need is not available at the UHSP Library.

What's the difference between an article, a journal, and a database?

Before you can begin your search it helps to know what you are looking for.

To make your search easier, take a look at the definitions below. 

Article

A scholarly paper written by an expert in the field and often peer-reviewed by other experts before publication. Articles are usually published in academic journals and contain a list of references or citations at the end.


Journal

A collection of articles in a particular subject area published on a regular schedule, often 4 times a year. Similar to a magazine except that the articles are often scholarly, peer-reviewed, and are read by researchers in the field. 


Database

 

A searchable collection of articles from hundreds or thousands of scholarly journals and other sources. Libraries typically pay a licensing fee to publishers (such as EBSCO) to give library users access to search for and download articles from a database. (ie, Academic Search Complete)

Another way of looking at it

To better understand the parts of an article citation, let's compare an article citation to the episode information for a TV show. 

  • Article: Minding the Matter of Psychokinesis: A Review of Proof and Process-Oriented Experimental Findings Related to Mental Influence on Random Number Generators.
  • Episode: The Nina Project
TV Episode
Journal article
Platform/source that aired the TV show
Netflix
Database used to locate the article
Academic Search Complete

Title of the TV Show 
Stranger Things

Title of the Journal the article was published in
Journal of Scientific Exploration

Episode Title and Subtitle
Chapter 5: The Nina Project

Article Title and Subtitle
Minding the Matter of Psychokinesis:
A Review of Proof and Process-Oriented Experimental Findings Related to Mental Influence on Random Number Generators

Year the episode aired
2022
Year the article was published
2021
Season the episode aired
Season 4
Volume the article was published in
Volume 35
# Within the season that the episode aired
Episode 5
# within the volume that the article was published (Not all journals have volume numbers.)
Issue 4
Length of the episode
Runtime: 1 hour 16 minutes

Starting and ending page numbers for the article
Page 829-932

Directors/Writers/Actors
Director: Nimród Antal
Author/s of the article
Williams, Bryan J.
Episode Summary
Owens takes El to Nevada, where she's forced to confront her past, while the Hawkins kids comb a crumbling house for clues. Vecna claims another victim.
Article Abstract
Many experiments have been conducted over the past eight decades to explore whether the ostensible psychic ability of psychokinesis (PK, or “mind over matter”) might be a genuine human potential, and the most extensive of these have involved attempts to mentally influence the output of electronic, binary-bit random number generators (RNGs)...

 

Parts of a Citation

A citation is a reference to a source of information that helps you locate the information.

Citations include identifying information, such as the author, journal title, date of publication, volume, etc.

Citation in EBSCO databases

 

 

 

 

 


Elements of the citation:

EBSCO Databases can be tricky, they show you an abbreviated citation at the top of the page and then make you scroll down the Source section for the full citation. 

  • Article Title (listed as Title): Teaching History of Pharmacy in U.S. Pharmacy Schools
  • Journal Title (Published In entry or listed as Source): American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education

  • Publication Year (found in Source): 2019
  • Volume (found in Source): 83
  • Issue (found in Source): 1
  • Pages (found in Source): 100-107

Authors: Baker, David M., Colaizzi, John L., Leite, Kelsey, Buerki, Robert A., Higby, Gregory J., McCarthy, Robert L., Ridgway, Clark

A citation is a reference to a source of information that helps you locate the information.

Citations include identifying information, such as the author, journal title, date of publication, volume, etc.

Citation in PubMed


Elements of the Citation:

  • Journal Title: 

    • Abbreviated title: Res Social Adm Pharm. 

    • Full Journal title: Research in Social and Administrative Pharmacy (RSAP)

  • Publication Year: 2019

  • Volume: 15

  • Issue: 9

  • Pages: 1057-1067

  • PMID (UNIQUE PubMed ID): 230685443

  • Article Title: Pharmacy-led interventions to improve medication adherence among adults with diabetes: A systematic review and meta-analysis

  • Authors: Bobby Presley, Wim Groot, and Milena Pavlova  

A citation is a reference to a source of information that helps you locate the information.

Citations include identifying information, such as the author, journal title, date of publication, volume, etc.

Citation in JSTOR

 

 

 

 

 


Elements of the Citation:

  • Journal Title: American Music

  • Publication Year: 2018

  • Volume: 36 

  • Issue: 4

  • Pages: 467-486

  • Article Title: "Young, Scrappy, and Hungry”: Hamilton, Hip Hop, and Race

  • Author: Kajikawa, Loren

Using the Discovery Search

Need to find a specific article, use the Discovery Search

If you found an article online and are looking for the full text OR an instructor asks you to find a specific article, we recommend using the Discovery Search. 

Just like with shows and movies on streaming services, not all articles can be found in every database. Luckily, our Discovery Search has indexed almost all our library resources. Use the instructions below to find a specific article using the Discovery Search.   


  1. Starting at the Library's page, type or copy/paste the ARTICLE title into the Discovery Search box and click Search. 

    • Example: Let's look for the article Examining procrastination and fear of failure among college students

  2. On the next page, scan the results for your article

  3. Once you found the article, look for the Access Now or Access Options button below the article to access the PDF of the article.
    If we do not have access to the full text of the article, you will see a link to the Interlibrary Loan Request form where you can request a PDF copy of the article. 

Searching for a Journal

Searching by Journal title

Another way to find a specific article is by searching for the journal. You can use our Journals Search to search for a specific journal, newspaper, magazine, or other periodical publication. Both print and online results will be included. 

  1. Start at the Library page and select Journals from the search options.

  2. Do not enter anything in the search box and click Seach. This sounds weird but trust us. 

  3. On the new page enter the JOURNAL TITLE (example: American Journal of Health-System  Pharmacy)

  • When you begin typing in the Search box, suggestions will appear, as shown in the image below. Select the title you want and you'll be taken to the record for that journal. 

  • If the journal does not appear, that means we do not have access to that journal and you will need to request the article through interlibrary loan. 

  1. On the results page, you may see several links for the same journal. This is because we might have access to the journal through multiple online sources OR the journal may be in print in the Library. 
    Look carefully at the dates underneath each link to see if the date or volume & issue you need is available.

    Important: If you were looking for an article that was just published online, you would want to make sure the link you select is for the online version AND does not have a Full-Text Delay. 

    In the image below the first link is for the print version and ends in 2012. The third link has a Full-Text Delay of 1 month. The second link shows we have access to all recent articles--so this would be the link to select if you want to find an article that was just published.

  1. Click on the link with the date needed--in this case, I would click on the link that shows our access as Present, without a Full Text Delay. 
    This will take you to the journal or database website, where you can either browse various issues or look for a search box to enter your search terms.