FTS: Ethics for Everyday Life: Finding Articles

Looking for articles on a specific topic? Visit our Research Guides for subject-specific databases.

• Articles are published in journals.
• Journals are indexed in databases.
• About Databases: Most databases (such as Academic Search Premier) allow you to retrieve or request the full text of articles.

Once you've identified an interesting article, look to see if the full text is there. If not, follow these steps:

• Click the yellow "find it!" button, which will search to see if it is full text in another database or in the library's print collection. 
• If it is full text in another database, click the links to get to the article itself. Note: the systems don't always talk to each other perfectly. Sometimes the links go to the wrong places. If this is the case, contact a librarian. We are happy to help you track it down.
• If the article is full text in print, take a field trip to the bottom floor of the library. Print journals are shelved alphabetically by title of the journal. Find the section containing your journal and then track down the article using the date/volume information. With the exception of the most recent issue of some popular magazines, you may check magazines and journals out for a week.

If an article is not available in full text or in print, request it through interlibrary loan, using your Gustavus account login to identify yourself. This generally means it will be scanned in for you at another library. An e-mail message will be sent to you with a URL and pin number to retrieve it. Though these scanned articles are sometimes are available within 24 hours, they can take longer. Plan ahead.

Sometimes you come across a footnote with an article that looks interesting. You don't need to turn to a database to find it. Check the title of the magazine or journal (not the article title) from the journal locator. If it is not available to us at Gustavus, log in to your library account and fill out an interlibrary loan request.

As you can see, tracking down the hard copies of materials can be tricky! Need help? Contact a librarian!