1. WISER Finding stuff: Journal Articles
Angela Carritt (Bodleian Libraries)
Penny Roberts (Radcliffe Science Library)
Jayne Plant (Bodleian Library)
Cesar Pimenta (New College Library)

2. Structure of the session
Finding known journal titles and articles
Searching for journal articles by subject
Indexing Services
Full Text Services
Practical step by step exercises

3. Finding known journal titles & articles
SOLO, OLIS and OU e-Journals provide links to e-Journals
SOLO and OLIS also provide location details for print journals
Search by journal title
Not article title, not author, not topic
Avoid abbreviations if possible
Avoid “by citation” tab – unreliable
On your results page choose the database with the “best” coverage for your needs

4. Finding known journal titles...e.g.
Nader, Laura ‘Iraq and Democracy’, Anthropological Quarterly, 2003, Vol.76(3), p

5. Finding known journal titles...
Enter the journal title in OU eJournals (or SOLO or OLIS)
Click on the to find the full text options
Full text options
From here select a database. Check the date range of each database before making your selection (e.g – 2001)

6. Finding known journal titles...other options
SOLO Journal Articles Beta / Google Scholar
Allows you to search by article title / author
Incomplete – do not assume an article is not available simply because it is not available on SOLO Journal Articles Beta or Google Scholar

7. Finding journal articles by subject
Indexes / Bibliographic tools
Full text databases
Google Scholar or SOLO - Journal Articles Beta

8. Finding journal articles by subject: Indexes
Bring together information about thousands of individual articles...books, book chapters, conference papers, dissertations, reports etc...
Good indexes should cover the main peer reviewed journals for your subject
Include (and can be searched by...)
Author
Article title
Bibliographic details (e.g. journal, volume, issue, page number)
Subject keywords
May include an abstract
Does not include full text – though there may be a link to a full text copy

9. Typical index entry

10. Example
Searching for articles on the Human Rights of Romanies using Web of Science

11. Think carefully about your search terms and use Boolean operators
Choose which field you want to search e.g. Author, title, topic
Look out for options to narrow down your search
Searching Web of Science

12. Most indexes allow you to re-sort your results by date, relevance...
Some databases provide options for you to refine your search
Most indexes allow you to then print, , save or export to a reference management programme
Each entry includes the article title, author, and bibliographic details. Click on the title for more details (including an abstract)
The “Find Oxford” button looks for a full text copy of the article in Oxford’s electronic and printed collections
Brief results display in Web of Science

13. Finding journal articles by subject: Which indexes should you use?
Go to
Choose “Find Databases” > “By Subject” > Scroll through the A-Z of subjects
Some subjects include “sub-categories” – look out for “indexes”, “abstracting and indexing services”, “journal indexes”, “bibliographic tools”. If not choose “All” or “General”
From the list of databases choose databases listed as “Abstracts / Indexes”

14. 1. Go to Oxlip+ and choose “Find Databases”
2. Choose “By Subject”
3. Scroll through the alphabetical list of subjects
4. Some subjects include sub-categories. If so, choose “Indexes”, “Abstracting and indexing databases”, “Bibliographic tools”, “Journal Indexes” etc. If not, choose “General” or “All”
5. Choose a database listed as “Abstracts/Indexes”. Use the i button to find our more about coverage

15. Finding journal articles by subject: Full text databases
Collections of full text journals, articles, books, papers, reports etc
Include
Author
Title
Bibliographic details
Full text article
Some also include subjects, abstracts…which can be searched separately
Tend to have a smaller coverage than indexes
Search results more likely to include irrelevant results

16. Finding journal articles by subject: Indexes v Full Text Database
Likely to return more relevant because your keywords appear in the article title, subject or abstract
Usually have good coverage of relevant journals
Full text may not be easily available to you
Full text
Likely to return more irrelevant results than indexes
May not include all the relevant journals for your subject
Full text immediately available

17. Exercises Guides exercises on
Web of Science (All Subjects)
Cambridge Scientific Abstracts (Social Sciences and Sciences)
MLA (Modern Languages and Literature)
Radcliffe Science Library
Find an index for your subject using Oxlip+ and try out some searches!

18. Any questions? Angela Carritt (Bodleian Libraries)
Penny Roberts (Radcliffe Science Library)
Jayne Plant (Bodleian Library)
Cesar Pimenta (New College Library)