- What do I get by using one of these?
- Use Journal Indexes to find citations to journal and newspaper
articles, conference proceedings, books, book chapters, and technical
paper literature.
- Some indexes provide full text for selected journal articles.
- All indexes provide, at least, citation information which is needed
to find the full text article in print. The citation includes:
- title of the article
- author of the article
- source publication (for example journal or conference title)
- volume, issue, date of publication and pages
- Many indexes provide the abbreviated title of the journal, but not the
full journal title which is needed to check Library holdings on TRELLIS.
There are some
online sources for expanding the abbreviated form to the full title.
- The libraries do not hold all the journals
cited in the databases. For Library holdings, search by journal
title in TRELLIS.
- So how do I use these indexes?
- In brief, you put in a keyword or two and the computer searches for
articles with those words in the title, abstract, or subject
headings. To refine your search takes a bit of detective work.
- Once I've got something then what?
-
- Many indexes provide the abbreviated title of the journal, but not
the full journal title which is needed to check Library holdings on
TRELLIS. There are some online
sources for expanding the abbreviated form to the full title.
- The libraries do not hold all the journals
cited in the databases. For Library holdings, search by journal
title in TRELLIS.
- How do I restrict my search to just what's here?
- So far that isn't possible. While it is frustrating to look at the
results of a search and find that article after article is not available
here, keep in mind that
TUGdoc
and
interlibrary loans (ILL/DD) can get
often get photocopies of articles whithin a matter of days. Faculty and
graduate students also have access to CISTI Source.
- Which indexes do we have here?
Can I get a list of all of
the databases you have?
- Use the Alphabetical
listing will list all of them. Look for the icon in the left
column to see which index you can access from where you are.
- How do I know which index to use
How about a list of databases in my subject area?
- Each database covers journals within a particular subject area.
-Select one of the Broad Subject Area
listings if you want to browse through the indexes covering general
disciplines
-Need help selecting indexes? Contact the Liaison Librarian for
your dept. and institution ( UG, UW, WLU)
- Where do I go to get access to these databases?
- You can access most of these databases from almost any workstation on
campus, including the one you are using now. If you are on campus you can
connect directly. If you are connecting from off-campus you need to set up
you browser to use a proxy server; the information is on our Connect From Home page.
- How do I access these from home?
- If you are a member of the TUG University community (students, staff,
faculty at UG, UW, WLU) and are using a commercial Internet provider to
access the journal indexes from off-campus, you will need to configure
your browser to go through the Proxy server. Please read the
Proxy Server instructions for your institution:
You will be asked for the barcode number from your library card and your
last name.
- Isn't this stuff in TRELLIS?
- TRELLIS (the library's catalogue) will only tell you if we subscribe
to the journal but will not help you find individual articles within the
journal.
- Wouldn't I be better off by going to an e-journal site?
- While many of the e-journals have search engines that allow you to
search through their journals your search is automatically restricted to
their journals. For example, the Springer Verlag site will only get you
articles in journals published by Springer. Most of the indexes listed
here index articles in journals from many publishers.
-These databases cover many journals from many publishers. If you want to
find a particular article in an electronic journal you may want to look at
the TUG
Electronic Journals page.
- I usually just search the web (Google, Alta Vista, etc.) What's the
difference?
- You want to look critically at the material you get from a web search
(Google, etc.) vs. what you get from one of these databases (even though
the database is available via the web). Most of the articles in the
indexes have been published in journals which maintain tight quality
control over their contents, usually a process involving peer-review and
editorial control. Material on the web in general ranges from high quality
preprints, conference proceedings, and reprints, to advertising and
outright misleading; it is entirely up to the viewer to determine the
quality of what you are reading.
Internet search engines, such as Google, Northern Light, etc., do not
search the contents of either library-purchased databases, such as
PsycINFO or Chemical Abstracts, or freely-available databases, such as
PubMed or library catalogues.
Beginning your research with these indexes should get you a better
quality start.
- If I'm not from this university can I get access to these databases?
- The contracts we have with our suppliers prevent us from opening up
access to anyone not a current faculty, staff or student at UG, UW, or
WLU. Alumni, community users and corporate donors are all excluded.
Most suppliers, however, do not object to external users on an
occasional walk-in basis but please remember that our students have first
claim on using the equipment in the library.
If you're from another university, it's possible that you have access to
many of these databases from your home using something similar to
the proxy server we use here. Check your library's
home page for
information.
- If these are all on the web, what else is there?
- Not to be ignored are many other indexes to journal articles and
publications in other media.
First are the indexes in print. In many cases you will need these if you
are doing retrospective research.
Then a lot of the indexes were distributed on CD-ROM. Some of these are
on campus networks, others you have to come into the library to use.
So how do you know which one to use? At this point this best
recommendation is that you come into the library and talk with us about
what you are researching and we can make some suggestions.
- How do I get the entire article? Where's the full text?
- Only in a couple of instances is the full text of the articles
included in the database. Historically, these databases were "pointers" or
"finding aids" for researchers to start their research. Now, many of the
databases are including the full text of the articles (CBCA), or pdf files
of the articles (ABI/Inform); still more are providing links to the web
versions of the journal articles. Many of the articles will not be
available electronically, only in print. Since almost each database is
different it's hard to give an exact rule. If you're having trouble
getting to the full text of an article come to the Information Desk and
we'll try to help.
