Sub sections:
3. Finding journal articles
Contents
Finding journal articles
These pages cover:
- The importance of journal indexes as research tools
- The different types of journal indexes
- Where to find journal indexes
- How to find and retrieve journal articles, citations, and abstracts.
Journal indexes as research tools
A journal is a periodical publication i.e. something which is published at regularly recurring intervals. Other types of periodicals include newspapers, magazines, serials, and annual reviews. The catalogue will tell you whether or not a particular journal is held at UNE, but it will not tell you the articles contained in a journal. For that, you need to use a journal index.
It is difficult to exaggerate the value of journal indexes as research tools. Even a printed index will allow you to complete in a few hours research tasks that would ordinarily take days or weeks. Electronic indexes are even more powerful. They allow you to review an entire body of knowledge, finding dozens of useful references in a few seconds.
Whatever their format, journal indexes:
- Provide you with access to a wide range of journals
- Allow you to search for journal articles on your topic (often by author, by specific journal or using a range of other possibilities)
- Provide bibliographic information (Howden S.M., Reyenga P. J. 1999, 'Methane emissions from Australian livestock: implications of the Kyoto Protocol', Australian Journal of Agricultural Research, vol. 50, no.8, pp. 1285-91)
- Cover a range of dates.
As mentioned earlier, journal indexes often contain abstracts (which are short summaries of the contents of each article) and, increasingly, the full-text of articles in electronic form. Many also include books, chapters from edited works, conference proceedings and many other types of publications.
Different types of indexes
Journal indexes come in a range of forms. Some are multidisciplinary, while others are subject based, such as indexes for psychology, sociology, business, nursing or the environment. The University Library subscribes to hundreds of different indexes most of which are available over the Internet.
Go to the Journal articles & databases page for a range of options to access databases.
Some options included are:
- MetaSearch, which allows you to choose a subject group of indexes and search several at once. It works well for simple queries. For complex queries you can click on the title of an index to go to its "native" more powerful software.
- Most popular databases, for quick access to the most used databases.
- A-Z list of databases, if you know which index you want, select it from this list.
You may also:
- Ask a Librarian or ring the Service Desk at Dixson Library on 02 6773 2458.
- Discuss your reference needs with your unit coordinator.
How to find and retrieve journal articles
Full-text indexes electronically deliver the contents of the articles themselves to your desktop, allowing you to view or print the articles. However, many journal indexes just provide you with a citation or citation and abstract.
If an index provides you with a journal citation only, you can often click on 
to see whether a particular article is available in the University Library or through an electronic subscription.
 | Using the Find It button When using a journal database you may come across the Find It button. This button allows you to find the full text of an article. Click on the Play button below for a quick demo on using Find It. 1.32min, 2.02MB  |
Alternatively, you can look for the title of that journal in the University Library catalogue. If the volume you want is held in paper format, you can either visit the library in person or, if you are an external student, have a copy of the article sent to you. The catalogue will also provide links to online versions of journals acquired by the Library.
If the journal isn't held by the library and you are a postgraduate student, you can still order a copy of the article through the Library's inter-library loan service (go to Library services and select what type of student you are for more information). There may be a small charge associated with inter-library loans.
Journal indexes with and without full-text content are used in different ways. For this reason, we will use two separate indexes as examples of how to employ these resources. The first one is APA-FT - Australian Public Affairs -Full Text, which is part of Informit. The second is Expanded Academic, which contains lots of full-text.
For the purpose of the exercise, we'll undertake a search for information on the greenhouse effect.
Summary
This page examined:
- the value of journal indexes as a research tool
- the different sorts of indexes that exist
- where to find journal indexes
- how to find and retrieve journal articles
 | Self-test Try these quick self-test questions to assess what you have learnt from this module. |
Searching Australian Public Affairs FT for articles
Before you begin
It is always worthwhile to review your choice of keywords before using a journal index. Ask yourself:
- What are the possible keywords that relate to my search?
- Are there any relevant unique terms or names?
- What equivalent or interchangeable terms can I use?
In this case, the keywords greenhouse effect, climate change, and global warming might all be useful keywords. Can you think of any others?
Why use APA-FT?
There are a number of good reasons for using APA-FT in our search for information on the greenhouse effect:
- APA-FT is multidisciplinary
- It has good Australian content
- APA-FT indexes over 2000 journals, plus feature articles in newspapers, conference papers and chapters in books
- It began in 1978 and is updated quarterly
- It contains full text articles published in over 220 journals from 1995.
| Finding journal articles using Australian Public Affairs - Full Text Use APA-FT in Informit to locate full text journal articles. Click on the Play button below to find out how. 2.39min, 5.32MB |
Beginning a search
To begin your search of the APA-FT index:
- Go to Journal articles and databases
- Click on Informit on the left of the next screen
- Supply your UNE username and password when prompted.
- Select APA-FT from the list of databases
- Click continue
- Click inside the first Search box and type greenhouse effect
- any field will look for the phrase greenhouse effect wherever it occurs in a record in APA-FT
- Click on the Search button.
- APA-FT then displays the matches for your search.
Combining keywords
The above search results in more than 2000 matches, which is probably far too many.
To reduce the number of matches, you need to narrow your search. One way to do this is to add other keywords to your search.
- In the search box to the right of the displayed matches, type kyoto protocol in the second search box before clicking on Search.
Refining your search
APA-FT on Informit allows you to refine your search in other ways, without the necessity of combining searches. Methods you can use include:
- Wildcards: wom?n will match woman or women
- Truncation: austral* will find australia, australian australia's or australasian
- Phrase searches: if two words are combined without an operator, APA-FT will interpret the words as a single phrase, eg juvenile justice, kyoto protocol
- Boolean operators: and, or and not can be used to determine the relationship between one or more keywords: dog or cat, cats and dogs, dogs not cats. Note that Boolean operators can be in either upper or lower case (gun NOT law, gun not law)
- Below the search box you can limit your search to Full content records only and/or by Publication year. 'Full content records only', means full text!
Retrieval options
You can make a list of the references most relevant to your search by clicking in the box at the top left of each record you want to keep. To display these "marked" records, click on the View Selected link on the upper left of the screen. You can then choose to print, save or email these records.
To save records to your hard drive or onto a floppy disk or USB key:
- Click on the Save button at the right in the middle of the APA-FT Informit window (NOT from the browser's File menu)
- APA-FT will then offer you a choice of format for saving the records. Make your choices
- Click on Save Records, then also on Save. Find the drive or folder where you want to save your results, click on Save giving the file a name you can find again. Note: If you save your file as plain text you can open this file with any word processing software, such as Microsoft Word or Word Pad.
To print records:
- Click on Print in the middle right of the APA-FT Informit window (NOT your browser's Print button)
- APA-FT will then offer you selections including choice of format for printing your records. Make your selections
- Click on Print Records
- Click OK or Print in the browser print box that appears.
Note that this process prints the records, not the full text articles. You will need to print each full text article individually, using the print icon provided by Adobe reader, either after saving it to your desktop, or when it is displayed on the screen.
You can also send your search results to yourself as an email, or email it to anyone else with an email account:
- Click on Email inside the APA-FT window
- Choose the format and other options you want for your records. Type your full email address and, if you wish, give your email a name in the subject line.
- Click on Email Records
Finding the articles you need
Some articles in APA-FT have Full Text links below the listed reference. This means you can read, print, save or email the complete article. Click on the link, and the text of the article will appear. Many other useful articles will not be available as full text in APA-FT, particularly if they were published before 1995.
Note that APA-FT tells you what has been written, not if it is held in the University Library. If APA-FT does not offer a full text link, click on to see if the article is available in the University Library or through another electronic subscription. You can also search the University Library catalogue. Remember that you must search for the journal title, not the title or author of the individual article.
Logging Out
When you have finished using APA-FT or any other index in Informit, click on Logout before quitting your browser.
Summary
The page has discussed the following topics about the APA-FT index:
- Beginning a search
- Keyword searches
- Combining search results
- Modifying searches
- Marking records
- Printing, saving and emailing records.
| Self-test Try these quick self-test questions to assess what you have learnt from this module. |
Using CaseBase to find journal articles
| Finding articles with CaseBase Click on the Play button below to find out how you can find articles on legal topics using CaseBase in LexisNexis. This example shows how to find full-text articles on medical negligence. 1.51min, 1.96MB |
How to use Gale Databases
Why use Gale Databases?
Gale Databases are useful for searching for journal and newspaper articles on many topics. It is:
- multidisciplinary
- based on material from around the world
- extensive, indexing 1,500 journals and newspapers, more than half of which are available in full-text
- based on material from as early as the 1980s
- updated weekly.
Other full text databases
Gale Databases are only one of the full-text journal indexes available to students at UNE. Others include ProQuest, Emerald FullText, JSTOR, LexisNexis Legal and Wiley InterScience. ProQuest is cross-disciplinary; Emerald FullText focuses on business management and marketing; JSTOR is an archive of full text journals going back to the 19th Century in some cases; LexisNexis has law material and Wiley InterScience specialises in science and technology.
| Finding journal articles using Gale databases - Full Text Use Gale databases to locate full text journal articles. Click on the Play button below to find out how. 2.10min, 794KB |
Accessing Gale Databases
- Go to Journal articles and databases
- Click on Gale Databases on this screen
- Supply your UNE username and password when prompted.
- Click on Continue
Searching
The first screen you see is an Advanced Search. To search on greenhouse effect for example, follow these simple instructions:
- Type greenhouse effect in the first search box.
- You can limit your search results to documents with full text, to peer-reviewed publications, or to documents with images by clicking the boxes below the search boxes. You can also limit your results by date or publication title. It is a good idea to start simple and make adjustments as you see how many matches there are.
- Click on Search.
- The matches will be displayed once the search has been performed.
Gale Databases Advanced Power Search
Note that, when using Gale Databases, as in most journal indexes, searching is not case sensitive (ie you can search on Greenhouse Effect or greenhouse effect and get the same result).
Limiting or modifying a search
Gale Databases allow you to modify your search terms using:
- Boolean operators: eg AND, OR, NOT
- Truncation: eg austral*
- Wildcards: eg organi?ation
Your results are only as good as your search strategy. If you choose the wrong keywords, spell them incorrectly or use Boolean operators in a haphazard manner, you will probably miss relevant results.
Modifying your search
If you get too many hits, you can narrow your search by adding more terms in the search boxes or using the Limit the results feature below the search boxes. If these are not displayed, click More Search Options.
The most useful are:
- limiting your search to documents with full text by clicking in the first box.
- clicking the box beside to peer-reviewed publications, to limit to articles in scholarly publications, where work is assessed by experts before it is published.
- Specifying publication date (s) (eg. 2003 - 2005) or publication title.
After you have chosen the limits you want, click on Search to run your revised search.
Alternatively you can narrow your search results by using the options offered to the left of the results display. Choices offered are to use Subject terms, document type (eg. interview, editorial, brief article) or the publication titles included in Gale Databases.
Narrowing your search results
Did You Mean? When a search fails to bring results, you'll be given alternate spellings and more preferred search terms to find appropriate results.
The search results list
Gale Databases displays the results of your search in a list of brief citations.
Results will be separated into four types of information, shown as tabs at the top of your search results; Academic Journals, Magazines, Books, News and Multimedia. The first group of results displayed are Academic Journals. To view the other information you will need to click on the different tabs at the top of the screen.
Generally it is recommended that you use the link under a citation to a PDF version of the full article if that link is offered. PDF versions make precise referencing easier as page numbers are shown. If you intend to view and print PDF files and don't have Adobe Reader installed on your computer, you should download and install a copy. Other formats, such as Full-text and Full-text with graphics can also be accessed by clicking on the links below the article title and citation.
Sometimes only a citation with or without an abstract is given. Then you can click on the 
icon to see if the article is available in the University Library or through another electronic subscription. Only use this if you cannot see Full-text within Gale Databases.
Marking articles
If you have a lot of matches for your search, you may find it useful to make a set of the most useful looking articles. To do this, click in the Mark box to the left of each article's title. To see the finished list of articles you have marked, click on the Marked Items folder above the blue toolbar at the top of the screen. Now it's time for you to decide whether to print, download (save), or email your list.
Printing, Saving, Emailing
You can choose to deal with your results one by one or by using your marked list. If you are viewing the text of an article, you will see a Tools box to the right of the citation. Click on Print preview to reformat the article for printing, then click on Print in the printer window once you have selected your printer options. The Tools box also provides options to email or download the article. If viewing a PDF version, use the print icon within the Adobe reader. If within the marked list, click on Print or E-mail within the Tools box. Make your choices of format from the options offered.
To save an article, click on the Download link, choose HTML if viewing the article in web page format then click Download again. Click Save, providing a name and location where you would like to save the article such as the a: drive for a floppy disk. A similar download option also exists from the Adobe reader which saves the article in .pdf format.
Logging Out
When you have finished using Infotrac click on Logout at the far top right of the screen.
Summary
Gale Databases have a range of features. Using this journal index, you can:
- perform a keyword search
- limit your search in various ways
- mark records
- retrieve results as citations, abstracts or full text articles
- save, print and email results.
The next step is to show you how to request material from the University Library.
| Self-test Try these quick self-test questions to assess what you have learnt from this module. |
