HOW TO FIND JOURNAL ARTICLES AT GINN LIBRARY

Probably the most frequently asked question at the Reference Desk is “How do I find journal articles on my topic?” Many times the answer must be very specific to the subject, but there are some basic strategies that can help with any search.

Start from our home page by clicking on Journals and Databases.
You can choose to view the databases we subscribe to in an A-Z List or in subject groupings.

The two most important considerations in deciding where to start are:

Which database covers my subject best?
Which ones include the full text?

It is a good idea to start with a full-text database if you can. LexisNexis, Expanded Academic, ABI Inform and JSTOR are all or almost all full-text. Databases that include the Find it @Tufts feature, like CSAIllumina, may lead you to full text. To decide which database might cover your subject, look at the list By Subject from the Journals and Databases page.

LexisNexis is the best place to start if you are looking for newspaper articles or law review articles. It is not as good for scholarly journals in the social sciences, although it does have some major journals like Foreign Affairs. It also has some business journals.

ABI Inform is the best place to start for business and economics journals. It has many full-text articles. CSAIllumina is also a good choice for economics articles, because it includes the EconLit database.

For general social and political science topics, start with CSAIllumina or Expanded Academic ASAP. CSA has very broad coverage in social and political sciences. The natural sciences area covers many journals that include articles on environmental studies. Expanded Academic has a lot of full text and quite broad coverage. It also indexes some general science journals.

JSTOR contains full text of some core journals in economics, history and political science. In most cases it archives the full run of the journal up to five years prior to the current date. More recent material in those journals would need to be located elsewhere.

There are a few specialized databases to try for some topics:

For military or security topics:: The Air University Index to Military Periodicals and Jane's Information Group.
For science topics including the environment and sometimes even economics:: Science Direct (full-text is sometimes available here) or Citation Index (check off the Science area on the search page).
For medical information
: Use the Ovid databases.

Once you have some citations from these databases or from a printed bibliography, how do you find the journal articles?
If you would prefer to find the article in electronic format, go to Journals and Databases from our Home Page, and click on Electronic Journals. Look up the title of the journal or find it in the A-Z list. If the title is in the list, you can click on it and be taken directly to the journal in some cases, or to a database that includes that journal.

If the journal is not available electronically, go to the Tufts University catalog. Look up the title of the journal (not the article) as a title in the catalog. If the journal is at Ginn it will be in the first floor stacks. All journals are arranged by title; pre-1980 volumes and discontinued titles in the compact shelving, and newer volumes in the open shelving at the back of the stacks. At Tisch Library you will need the call number in order to find journals. In some cases you will see in the catalog record that we have an electronic version. You can click on the link in the catalog and go directly to the electronic version.

If you haven’t found the article in any of these places, what next? It depends on how soon you need it and whether you want to go elsewhere yourself to get it. You can check the Harvard catalog from Research Tools, Other Catalogs on our home page. We do not request interlibrary loan from Harvard, but (once you have gotten your Harvard card) you can go to a Harvard library that owns the article and photocopy it.
If there is a Boston Library Consortium Library convenient to you, you might want to check their catalog from our Other Catalogs page within Research Tools and go there with your BLC card (obtained from the Reference Desk).

If none of these options works for you, you can request a copy of the article through ILLiad on the Library Services page under Interlibrary Loan. You do not have to know where to get the article. We will find it for you.

If all else fails, or if you feel that you need help at any point in the process, please drop by the Reference Desk, call extension 617 627-5021, or use the Ask a Librarian e-mail from the Journals and Databases page.

An illustrated version of this guide is also available.