You are going to learn how to find articles using the UA Library index, Academic Search Complete.
Follow the directions below and fill in the blanks.
When you are finished, your can print out your answers.
Click on the question marks for hints and help as you work.
Last Name:
First Name:
Ex 1: "How are women's roles in the family changing?"
Ex 2: "Has the Border Patrol been involved in violation of human rights?"
Ex 3: "What research has been done about Vietnam veterans and depression or post-traumatic stress?"
Write your research topic in the box below (if you don't have your own topic yet, use one of the sample topics above.)
What are some keywords from your topic? You will use these later in your search.
Ex 1: women and roles and family and change
or mother* and family and role*
Ex 2: border patrol and human right*
or border patrol and civil right*
Ex 3: vietnam and veteran* and depression
or vietnam and veteran* and stress
The use of the asterisk * tells the computer to search for any endings to the word after the *. So you can get both singular and plural forms of this word, as well as other endings. Write your keywords in the box below --be sure to connect different terms with the word and.
Why use "and" between words?
In the window to the right, click on the Article & Database Searching (grouped under Search & Find)
Under "Popular All-purpose Databases," click on Academic Search Complete.
Off-campus users: If you do not use the UA campus VPN, you must enter your last name and CatCard number in order to connect. Read the directions "Connecting from off-campus" at the bottom of the Article and Database Searching page.
You are now in Academic Search Complete. Type the keywords that you listed for your topic in Step 2 in the search boxes. (If you do not remember your keywords, you can use the drop-down box above to go back.)
Should I check the "Full Text" box? No
My instructor says I can only use "research" or "scholarly" articles. What are those?
Click the Search button when you're ready.
Look at your list of citations (records, or hits).
How many citations did you get?
the number of citations will be at the top of the screen -- ex. 1 - 20 of 78
What if I didn't find enough citations?
What if I found too many citations?
Read the titles and abstracts of some of your articles. Choose one journal or magazine article that looks like it could be useful for your topic.
Because Academic Search Complete displays no more than 20 citations per screen, you may need to go to the next screen to find a good citation.
What is the title of the journal?
What is the title of the article?
What is the date of the article?
What are the volume and issue numbers, if any? Ex: v117, n6
What is the beginning page number?
If your article is full text (this means an electronic version of the article is linked from Academic Search Complete), there will be a link, labeled either PDF full text, HTML full text or Linked full text. Not all articles are full text in Academic Search Complete. Is your article full text?
Choose answer yes no not sure
Articles that are not full text in Academic Search Complete may be full text in another index or database or they may be owned by the Library and stored in paper or microfilm.
Even if your particular article today is full text, it is important for you to learn how to find articles in print journals.
If your article is not full-text in Academic Search Complete, click Check Article Linker for more information. Sometimes Article Linker will link directly into the full-text of the article.
Did you get to the full-text of your article? . (If not, indicate "No".)
If your did not get to the article in full-text through Article Linker, you can Ask a Librarian for help. There are a variety of ways to do this, you can come to or call the Information Commons Reference Desk, you do a Chat or IM reference session with a librarian or you can email the library. We can help you get any article you are looking for. Never pay for an article you find on the Internet, always ask the library and we can get it for you for free.
If an article you find is not full text and you need to find it in the library, use these instructions.
If UA Library doesn't own the journal and if it is not full-text...
You can order the article through Interlibrary Loan (ILL) but it will take from 4-7 days to receive it. If you're interested in ILL, ask at the reference desk for help.
If you don't have time to wait, you can always do another search in Academic Search Complete (or another library index) for articles we do have.
Congratulations! You're done!
If your instructor has told you to turn in this assignment, use the "print" button below to prepare a copy you can print and turn in.
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