The University of St. Thomas

Finding articles

Finding articles

Choosing the best article databases for your subject

Often, general article databases (online indexes) are good starting points for undergraduate research.  They list citations (and frequently full text) to popular magazine or scholarly journal articles on many topics.  To find the most useful databases for your subject, use the Databases and Indexes page subject and alphabetical lists. If you're looking for a particular journal, see the Journals A-Z page.  If you need help verifying that you're using scholarly resources, see our resources for identifying peer-reviewed journals.  If you have questions, ask a librarian.

For a database covering a broad range of subjects, choose:

Searching databases

Once you have chosen your database and are ready to search it, finding good articles on your topic takes several steps:

  • Enter and combine terms appropriate to your topic.
  • Look at the best references you retrieve and determine the subject terms used for those articles.  Revise your search using any new terms to retrieve more articles.
  • Write down or print all pertinent information (called the "citation" including the journal title, volume number, date, and page numbers.  See How to Interpret an Article Citation.
  • Check the Database Searching Tips.

Get the full text of the article

Once you find the citation, you may find the full text of the article within the  database you're searching.  If not:

  • Look for the purple "Find It" logo button   in your search results, and press it to access a program that will tell you if UST has access to that article in print or online.  See the Find It FAQ for more information. 
  • You can check Journals A-Z to see if UST has access to the electronic version; you will need to look under the name of the journal, not the article title.  This will also show you if any of the  Libraries own the print version of the journal. Then you can find the issue you need on the library shelves.  (Note:  the link may take you to another database where you have to search for your article again, or a publisher's site where you would also have to search again, or take you into the CLICnet library catalog to check our print holdings.)  
  • To see if libraries affiliated with St. Thomas Libraries own the print version, search the journal title in the CLICnet library catalog.  It includes magazines and journals available at the other CLIC Libraries (Augsburg, Bethel, Concordia, Hamline, Macalester, Northwestern, and St. Catherine's.)  
  • Articles in periodicals not held by the UST libraries can be ordered through interlibrary loan, or you can go to that library and photocopy the article(s) you need.  

Finding newspaper articles on a subject

The UST Libraries subscribe to several newspaper databases.  To find current newspaper articles, you can search the following databases:

If you have questions about finding newspaper articles, ask a librarian.

Evaluate the articles

  • Here are some of the factors to consider in evaluating articles:  is the author an expert in their field?  In what type of magazine does the article appear?  Why was the article written:  to inform, entertain, persuade?
  • More on evaluating sources.

See also:

To summarize:

Select an article database appropriate to your subject
Search databases to find articles on a topic
Check for the full text online or on paper, or order through interlibrary loan
 
Next step: Evaluating resources