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Accessing Journal Articles |
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Finding a journal article that contains the information you need can be challenging. If you would like assistance, please contact our
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. If not, follow the steps below to make your search easier.
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Choose a database
PubMed is a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine that includes over 18 million citations from MEDLINE and other life science journals for biomedical articles back to 1948.
REHABDATA, produced by the National Rehabilitation Information Center, is the leading literature database on disability and rehabilitation.
ERIC has bibliographic records of education literature, plus a growing collection of full text.
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Decide which keywords to use.
For example, if you are looking for an article on the social skills of teenagers who have spina bifida, you might use the keywords social, skills, teenager and spina bifida. |
Search the database.
Type in your keywords, and a list of abstracts will appear. Scroll through them to find the ones that cover the subject matter you are interested in. The dates the articles were published are listed. This allows you to choose the most current article. |
| Record the name of the periodical, volume number, issue number, article title and author. These will be needed later to find the call number of your periodical. |
Find a library that has your article.
University libraries are the place to look first because of the large number of periodicals they hold. The University of Western Ontario catalogue can be searched online. Many fulltext articles are now being made available through university catalogues. If you are lucky enough to find your article is available fulltext online, your search is over. If not, please continue. |
Search the library catalogue
Enter the periodical's name. Make sure that the volume and issue you want is available. (If your library does not have their catalogue online, you will have to physically go to the library.) |
Write down the call number of the periodical you are looking for.
Periodicals are organized by the call numbers and not by their titles.
An example of the call numbers at the University of Western Ontario is: W1.AM497 (it belongs to The American Journal of Occupational Therapy) . All call numbers beginning with "W1" will be located in the Allyn & Betty Taylor Library. Call numbers beginning with anything else will be at one of the other UWO libraries. The UWO libraries that are most frequently used are: TAY - Allyn & Betty Taylor Library (Applied Health Sciences, Dentistry, Medicine, Nursing and Science) DBW - The D.B.Weldon Library (Arts, Social Sciences, Kinesiology, Journalism and Library & Information Science) EDU - Education Library |
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Go to the library.
The periodicals are kept in their own section and can be found by using the call number. If you are not familiar with the library or their system,
ASK THE LIBRARIAN FOR HELP
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Photocopy your article.
Most libraries will allow you to photocopy articles even when you do not have a library card. They will probably charge a fee per copy, so bring plenty of change. |
Before venturing into library territory, here are some terms you will need to be familiar with.
| keyword |
A significant word that is used to find information in a database.
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| database |
A collection of journal article abstracts that can be searched. |
| periodicals |
Publications issued at regular intervals. Some examples are: journals and magazines. |
| abstract |
A short summary, usually of an article or book. |
| call number |
A combination of letters and numbers used by a library to classify and arrange materials. The call number gives the shelf location of an item. |
| catalogue |
A listing of a library's materials |
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Last Updated ( Monday, 20 April 2009 )
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