LESSON 3 FINDING ARTICLES AT MORRIS LIBRARY Introduction to College ResearchInstructor: Amber Burtis

Questions Answered in Lesson 3

What are articles? What it the difference between the following types:

Scholarly journal articles Popular newspaper articles Popular magazine articles

What is a library database? And why is it not a webpage?

Questions Answered in Lesson 3

How do you find articles through Morris Library?

When should you use AND, OR, and NOT?

What do the following terms mean: Full-text PDFs Abstracts Citations?

What are Articles?

The 411 on Articles

Articles are found in periodicals like: Popular Magazines (Time, Newsweek) Popular Newspapers (The Southern

Illinoisan, The New York Times) Scholarly Journals (The Journal of the

American Medical Association, The Journal of Communication)

Articles are found in print form and in electronic form, but they are increasingly in electronic form.

Why are Articles Important?

The topics you will find in articles are very specific, rather than the more general topics you will find in books.

The information you find in articles is often the most recent research you’ll find on a topic since newspapers, magazines, and academic journals are published quite frequently.

All Articles are Not the Same….

Keep in mind that not all articles can be used for the papers you write in college. Generally, the following rules apply:

Popular Magazines Articles Not usually appropriate for college research

Popular Newspaper Articles Appropriate for some college research, such as

historical research papers

Scholarly Journals Articles The best source for college research since articles

are reviewed by scholars in that field (called peer-review)

What’s the Difference?Scholarly Journal Article Popular Magazine and Newspaper

Articles

Purpose To report original research to other scholars in the field

To entertain, sell or persuadeTo report general information to the public

Publisher Generally published by professional organizations or associations

Published by a commercial company for profit

Author Article provides credentials on the author, including academic rankAuthors vary from issue to issue

Authors can be free-lance or staff writersAcademic credentials of author rarely listed

Length Usually longer, 5 or more pages Usually more brief, under 5 pages

Style Uses terminology specific to the fieldWritten to appeal to scholarsCan contain research data, research strategies, hypothesis, research findings

Uses general terminologyWritten to appeal to wide readershipDiscusses research already accomplished

Sources Contains bibliography Might contain bibliography, but rare

Appearance

May contain graphs, illustrations, charts to show dataRarely contains commercial advertisements

May contain advertisements unrelated to the articleMay have photographs and illustrations to enhance the article

Selection Articles selected by editorial board of peers in the fieldProcess for article submission stated

Articles selected by editor(s) of magazineProcess for article submission unclear

Finding Articles

Now that you know what articles are, the next step is to learn how to find them in library databases. Click on the link below to learn about library databases.

NOTE: Be sure to pay close attention to this tutorial….some of your homework assignment and quiz will come from it. http://www.wou.edu/provost/library/clip/tutorials/lib_database.htm

Finding Articles

Go to http://www.lib.siu.edu/Click on the “Articles & Databases” link on the left hand side of the page

Finding Articles

Type your keywords in the search box or click on one of the specific subjects below to find

library databases related to your topic.

Once you get your results you can use the terms “AND,” “OR,” and “NOT” to refine your results. For example, (Chicago White Sox 2009

OR 2010) will give you results about either one of these years, whereas (Chicago White Sox 2009 AND 2010) will show results that include both years. The search (Chicago White Sox 2009 NOT 2010)

will give you results from 2009 but not 2010. You can also refine your results by limiting the publication date of articles. Play with some of

the other limit options.

Now click on the title of the article to get the information you need for Assignment #3.

Article TitleAuthor

Journal Title, Date,

Volume, Issue, Page

numbersPermalink

Citation

Database searched

Subject Terms

If you see a link for “HTML FULL TEXT” or “PDF FULL TEXT” click on it to get the full text of the

article.

If you don’t see a link for “HTML FULL TEXT” or “PDF FULL TEXT” click the “FIND FULL TEXT” button to see if any other library databases

have the full text of the article.

If the first line says that “We don’t have this online” then check the link below it to see if there is a print copy at

Morris Library. If there isn’t and you still want it then you can request it through Interlibrary Loan. Morris Library will find a copy of the article for you from a different library.

Finding Print Articles at Morris Library

If SIUCat says that there is a print copy of the article at Morris Library…

Articles published 1996 to the present are located on the third floor of Morris, arranged alphabetically by the title of the journal.

Older articles are at McLafferty Annex and need to requested the same way you requested books.

If you need help just contact me and I can help you figure it out….aburtis@lib.siu.edu

Glossary

Full-text – refers to a version of the article in its entirety

PDF - Portable Document Format

Abstract – a short and pointed statement that describes an article

Citation – a reference to an article that lists the author, date, publisher, journal, volume, issue, etc.

Assignment

Go to the course homepage and do Assignment #3.

E-mail me the assignment (either as an attachment or with the answers in the body of the e-mail) and then go to Blackboard to take Quiz #3 under the Assessments link.