For some people, this is the most difficult aspect of using libraries. Yet, journals (also called 'periodicals' or 'serials') contain such recent, in-depth information that it's important to learn how to use them. Besides, your lecturers will often want you to find information about very recent research that is published in journal articles.
What you should know about journals
How can I find journal articles on my topic?
What are indexing databases and print indexes?
Where can I find these databases and print indexes?
Which database should I choose for this topic?
How do I search databases and CDROMs?
How can I find out if the journal is in the library?
Helpful hints for database searching
InfoTrekker Quiz 6
Link to:
Curtin's Gecko: Gateway to Library Databases
(For Curtin staff & students)
What you should know about journals
The articles that you find in 'journals' are generally more in-depth and well researched than those you read in popular 'magazines' like New Idea or Personal Computing. However, like them, they are published regularly - either weekly, monthly, once every 3 months or 6 months etc. Examples of journals are Harvard Business Review, New Scientist and Ceramics Monthly.
On the cover of each journal issue you may find an issue number, the year and/or a date, as well as a volume number.
If your lecturer wants you to read a specific journal article they will give you a reference similar to this:
Brockman, H. J. 2006, 'Why are animals so honest?', Bioscience, vol.56, no.10, p.849 - 851.
To find this, you must first identify the title of the journal. This appears just before the volume (vol.), issue (no.) and page numbers (p.).
You would then go to your library catalogue to find the shelf number of the journal. Catalogues only list journals by their title (e.g. Bioscience), so choose a Title search from the options and type the exact title of the journal. If your library has a separate Journals (or Periodicals) catalogue, choose this option.
Most libraries keep current journal issues loose on the shelves, while the older issues of past volumes may be bound together in hard covers, filed by their year. Many journals are also online and the catalogue will show this and allow you to link to them directly.
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How can I find journal articles on my topic?
If you browse through journals trying to find an article on a very specific topic, it will take you a long time. Which journal to choose? Which year?
To make life easier, there are journal or periodical indexes that you can search with your topic's keywords. Most indexes are published as online databases, although some libraries may still have some in CD-ROM or in print format.
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What are indexing databases or print indexes?
- These are huge lists of journal references which are kept very current as new journal articles are published and new references are constantly added. Originally, indexes were published regularly in print, but now we search them as online databases.
- Indexes can cover one subject area or many. For example, Business Source Premier indexes only business journals; CINAHL covers nursing journals and ProQuest and ScienceDirect cover journals in many subject areas and are 'multidisciplinary'.
- Searching a journal indexing database with topic keywords gives you a list of journal articles on the topic and a summary ('abstract') of each article. Then, you decide which articles you want to find and read.
- 'Full text' databases provide the whole article as well. They usually provide the full text of around 50% or more of the articles they list. Examples are ProQuest, Business Source Premier, Project Muse and ScienceDirect.
- If the full article is not in the database you are searching, you must check if your library holds the journal by searching the library catalogue (by the journal title, remember?). Sadly, not all the articles listed in a database will be held by your library.
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Where can I find these databases and print indexes?
- Print journal indexes are usually found in libraries' Reference Collections, although most libraries now buy online databases.
- You can find Curtin Library's online databases from our home page. Choose Find Information, Find Journal articles, Databases A-Z, Subject guides or Gecko. (See the Links at the bottom of this page.)
- Curtin students and staff can access most databases from any computer with Internet access. There are internet computers in the Robertson Library and in all Curtin libraries, but many students access them from home.
IMPORTANT: Because libraries must buy these databases and sign licenses, access to Curtin's databases is only available to its own staff and students. You must have your Curtin ID number and OASIS password, or, for those without OASIS access, a Library ID and Library PIN.
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Which database should I choose for my topic?
This is a common question as there are so many databases. Here are some tips:
- First, choose a multidisciplinary, full text database like ProQuest or ScienceDirect. If you don't find enough articles, you may have to search a subject-based database.
- Curtin students and staff can link to Gecko and Subject Guides which list databases by subject areas.
- Look for the names of databases mentioned in course outlines guides or 'pathfinders' . Your lecturers may also suggest relevant databases.
- Librarians can suggest databases for your topic or thesis. Curtin students can contact us by SMS, chat, email, phone or in person.
Enquiries Desk, Robertson Library
Phone: (08) 9266 7166
or email us.
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How do I search the database for articles on my topic?
- First, look at your topic for its main concepts (see Trek 1: Analysing your topic). For example, if your topic is
"Discuss the impact of global warming on coral reefs in Australia"
your main concepts are 'global warming', 'coral reefs' and 'Australia'.
- Decide on the keywords you will use as search terms (see Trek 2: Finding keywords). For this topic your keywords or phrases could include:
| global warming |
coral reefs |
Australia |
| greenhouse effect |
corals |
Australasia |
- Understand Boolean logic.
In indexing databases, the words AND, OR and NOT have special functions when they are used between search terms (see Trek 2: Finding keywords). Our database search could be typed like this:
global warming and coral reefs and Australia
or, for even more references:
(global warming or greenhouse effect) and coral reefs and Australia
- Keep your search simple!
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How can I find out if the journal is in the library?
If the database only gives you a reference to a journal article, not the full text, you will need to check the library catalogue for the journal.
- Look at the reference and work out the title of the journal, the volume, year and pages of the article.
- Search your library catalogue by the journal Title.
- Always check the Holdings message to see if the library holds the year and/or the volume of the journal you need. (To review this, see Trek 4: Using the library catalogue 1)
- In some Curtin databases you may see a find it icon. Clicking on this will link you to the library catalogue or to another database with the full article.
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Helpful hints for database searching
If you don't find any references on your topic, ask yourself:
- Is my spelling correct?. Remember, British and American spelling is different: e.g. use both "colour OR color" in a search.
- Is this the best database for my topic? Librarians can help you.
- Have I typed in a whole sentence, rather than keywords with AND or OR as linking terms?
- Is my topic too recent for a database search? Journal databases may take a while to index the articles. Perhaps a newspaper article would be best?
- Have I narrowed my search too far using ANDs: e.g.
"ergonomics and office and equipment and Australia"
If you don't find
any useful references on your topic, ask yourself :
- Have I used OR (for 'either/or') when I should have used AND (for 'as well as') e.g."greenhouse effect or australia" instead of "greenhouse effect and australia"?
- Are your terms too broad: e.g. 'transport' rather than 'railways'? Begin with very specific terms and broaden them if you need to.
- Check a Thesaurus or the online Index for the database. This lists all the subject headings used by the database to categorise articles; e.g. an education database uses "elementary education" rather than the term "secondary education" to describe articles about high-schools. (See more on Thesauri and Indexes in Trek 12: More about databases)
HUGE HINT: Always check the database's Help for search suggestions. Each database is slightly different.
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Well done! This was a huge Trek, but a very important one. Why not (....wait for it!....) try the Quiz?
To learn more about databases, you can also try :
- Curtin Library's free Online Tutorials
- our easy View-it tutorials for the main databases.
- free database workshops during semester (for Curtin staff and students).
Next, learn about finding information in that other maze, the World Wide Web, in Trek 7: Searching the WWW.
Link to:
Curtin's Gecko: gateway to Library databases
(Curtin staff & students only)
Finding Journal Articles: Searching Library Databases iLecture
Curtin Library Subject Guides
Online tutorials
Curtin Library Workshops schedule
Trek 12: More about databases
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