Finding Articles

When conducting research on a topic you will often need to find articles in periodical sources. Periodicals include scholarly journals, popular magazines, newspapers and other publications that are issued on a regular basis (e.g., weekly). You can use either print indexes or electronic databases to find article citations.

Print Indexes are located in the Reference Section of the Library and include both general and subject specific types. A general index (Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature) usually covers a broad range of topics and periodical sources, while a subject index (Art Index) focuses on a narrower range of topics. When using print indexes you must first look up your subject and then write down the full citation for each article. You then locate the article by searching for the periodical title (e.g., Journal of Accoutancy) in our online catalog and checking the holdings information (e.g., 1976-1990) for that title.

You may also find articles by searching the electronic databases available on our Online Databases page. Some databases (Expanded Academic Index) cover a broad range of topics, while others (Health Reference Center) may be limited to a specific field of inquiry. These databases provide you with article citations, abstracts (brief summaries), and in some cases the full text of the article. It is a good idea to bring a floppy disk with you to the Library so that you can download articles and citations from databases.

Bibliographies and Works Cited lists found at the end of books and articles are also an excellect source for finding citations related to your topic.