Finding Articles

Counseling home > Finding Articles

• Where Do I Find Articles?
• How is a Database Different from the Internet?
• Does an Article from a Database Count as an "Internet Source" or Web Site?
• Basic Searching Tips
• What Is the Database Showing Me?
• Is There a List of Full-Text Journals Available?

Where Do I Find Articles?

Search for articles with one of the Passports periodical databases. These are tools that help you identify quality research materials in journals and other publications. The library offers all Eden and Webster students, faculty, and staff over 100 subscription databases as premier sources of research information. See the section on Recommended Databases for a list of databases in your subject area.

You will not find articles with the library catalog. The library catalog lists periodicals/journals held by the library, indicating the years owned by the library; however, it does not index the individual articles in magazines and journals.

You may be familiar with paper indices, which list articles by topic or by author and usually have one volume per year. Examples include Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature and Social Sciences Index. Many print indices are now available in electronic format and can be searched online.

How is a database different from the Internet?

A database is a collection of information -- in many cases a collection of articles. On the other hand, the Internet includes World Wide Web pages, e-mail servers, and other forms of electronic information. When you search a database available on Passports, you are using the Internet to access and search that database; however, you are only searching part of the Internet -- the database of articles.

Passports databases also differ from general Internet use in that they are accessible only by subscription. The library has paid subscriptions to these databases and, as a student, you are eligible to use them. These databases provide scholarly research materials published in recognized and well-respected journals.

Free databases also exist on the Internet and anyone may use them. While these contain some sound research information, they usually do not index the same materials as subscription databases and do not offer fulltext articles. Most scholarly research information is not freely available on the Internet.

Does an article from a database count as an "Internet source" or web site?

What if your instructor tells you not to use Internet sources or web sites for research? Always talk to your instructor to clarify what is meant by "Internet source" or "web site." Databases tend to index electronic versions of articles from traditional print magazines and journals -- the kinds of sources your instructors expect you to use. If you have used a Passports database to find articles, it means that you've used the Internet as a tool: the Internet is used to run a database which in turn helps you find information.

The full-text, electronic version of an article available through one of our databases is usually identical to the paper version of the same article. For example, a Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology article viewed online is the same as the Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology article printed on paper; only the format changes.

Basic Searching Tips

The most fundamental part of searching a database is creating a search strategy! But basic searching also includes using the operators AND, OR, and NOT in search expressions, as well as some other simple operators.

Below are some general guidelines for database searching. More information on how to improve your results with various searching techniques can be found in our Searching a Database tutorial.

Keep it simple! Use individual keywords or phrases, not complete sentences.

aggression
juvenile delinquency

Use the word AND to combine keywords or phrases to make your search more specific.

aggression and adolescents
juvenile delinquency and drug abuse

Use the word OR to have the computer search for synonyms, alternate spellings, or two or more different options.

Missouri or Illinois
ADD or attention deficit disorders
color or colour

If you use both AND and OR in the same search, parentheses should be placed around the terms separated with OR.

juvenile delinquency and (Missouri or Illinois)
(ADD or attention deficit disorders) and aggression

What Is the Database Showing Me?

Articles in databases are described using a "citation" which tells you the title of the article, the author's name, and the publication in which the article appears.

More information on reading citations is available.

Is There a List of Full-text Journals Available?

Webster/Eden students, faculty, and staff may check our comprehensive Journal/Magazine/Newspaper list to see the titles either available full-text in our online databases or in paper/microform at the library. If a periodical is available online, you will see a link directly to the database which has the full-text. Once you log in with your I.D. number, the database will take you either to a list of articles for that title or to the main search screen where you can often search by periodical title. Check the "Help" available within the database if you have questions about how to proceed. A later section will discuss what to do if the full-text is not online in any of our databases.