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.
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.
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)
To better understand the parts of an article citation, let's compare an article citation to the episode information for a TV show.
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 |
Title of the Journal the article was published in |
Episode Title and Subtitle Chapter 5: The Nina Project |
Article Title and Subtitle |
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 |
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)... |
Citations include identifying information, such as the author, journal title, date of publication, volume, etc.
Citation in EBSCO databases
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.
Journal Title (Published In entry or listed as Source): American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education
Authors: Baker, David M., Colaizzi, John L., Leite, Kelsey, Buerki, Robert A., Higby, Gregory J., McCarthy, Robert L., Ridgway, Clark
Citations include identifying information, such as the author, journal title, date of publication, volume, etc.
Citation in PubMed
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
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
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.
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
On the next page, scan the results for your article.
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.
Start at the Library page and select Journals from the search options.
Do not enter anything in the search box and click Seach. This sounds weird but trust us.
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.
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.