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Research 101: Articles

Choosing Databases

Find articles on almost every topic through the library's databases. Some databases offer full text of articles, others only the citation, and some will have both. Some are interdisciplinary while others specialize in specific topics or source types, like newspapers or ebooks.

Pay attention to the database description to make sure you're searching the right ones for your research. Read more about individual databases before you search them.

For each major, there are recommended discipline-specific databases. Use the research guides to identify the right databases for your area of study. You can also start with some of the multi-purpose databases below. 

Finding the Actual Articles

Once you've identified articles you want to access within a library database, look to see if the full text is there. If not, follow these steps:

Look for an option to view the full text. Individual databases will display this differently, but look for anything that invites you to access the full text. You might see an option to "Find It at Gustavus." Clicking the access option will give you three different options:

  • If the article is full text in another database, follow the links provided to find the article.
    •  The systems don't always talk to each other perfectly. If anything goes wrong, contact a librarian. We are happy to help you track it down.
  • If the article is full text in print, head to the bottom floor of the library. Print journals are shelved alphabetically by title of the journal. Find your journal and then track down the article using the date/volume information. Ask for help/directions at the Library's front desk.
  • If an article is not available in full text or in print, request it through Interlibrary Loan. Follow the prompts to log in and submit a request. A lending library will send you the article - for free. Your article should arrive within a day or two.

Sometimes you come across a footnote with an article that looks interesting. Check the title of the magazine or journal (not the article title) from the journal locator to see if we have the full text. If it is not available at Gustavus, log in to your library account and fill out an interlibrary loan request. (Click on My Library Account; beneath the search box on the library's homepage.)

As you can see, tracking down the hard copies of materials can be tricky! Use the Tracking Down Materials tab for more information or contact a librarian directly. We are here to help you access whatever materials you need.

Summarizing Articles Effectively

Articles

While articles are a little easier to skim than books, thanks to their shorter length, some scholarly articles can be dense. Fortunately, there are built-in features within articles to help you comprehend their main arguments.

Nonscholarly articles, including newspaper and magazine articles are usually easier to comprehend quickly, as they are written for a general audience and do not usually assume that readers have a lot of background knowledge on a topic. Look for these features:

  • Read the first and last paragraphs to see the author's main points and conclusions
  • Look for any mention of experts, organizations , legislation or studies mentioned. If you want to expand your knowledge of the topic, you can then track some of these down.

Scholarly articles are written by experts in a field for other experts (and students). Use these features and techniques to explore their main points:

  • Read the abstract, which normally appears at the very beginning of the article and summarizes the entire source
  • Read the introduction and conclusion; pay attention to what the author is trying to prove or analyze, as well as any conclusions they reach
  • Authors will often include a discussion of questions their research raises at the end of the source; use these to help identify questions that you would like to further explore

This work is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0