How to Find Information: Finding a Specific Item

Do you have a citation you need to track down, or a journal that you need to access?

Method 1:  Library Search for Books, Journals & More

One of the quickest ways to find publications is through the library search box on the home page.

1. In the search box, enter one of these:

• Article title
• Journal name
• Book chapter title
• Book title
• DOI

2.  Hit Enter on your keyboard or click the Search button.

3. Locate the article or book in the results list and compare it to the citation you already have to ensure it is the correct publication.

4. If the full text is available, you will see options to view the item beneath the result.

Method 2: Browse Journals

Try the Browse Journals search if you need a specific journal, magazine, or news periodical. This search is located on the "Browse Journals" tab in the search box, or on the "Journals A-Z" link on the home page under the "Search" menu. Please note that finding specific articles, journals, or books differs slightly between databases.

1. In the search box, enter one of these:

• Journal name
• ISSN

2. Hit Enter on your keyboard or click the Search button.

3.  Follow the database links in the results to locate the article, journal issue, or other item you're looking for. Pay attention to the dates next to each link to ensure you select an option containing the item you want.

DOI: Digital Object Identifier - A DOI is a unique number made up of a prefix and a suffix separated by a forward slash. This is an example of one: 10.1000/182. It is resolvable using our proxy server by displaying it as a link: https://doi.org/10.1000/182.

Designed to be used by humans as well as machines, DOIs identify objects persistently. They allow things to be uniquely identified and accessed reliably. You know what you have, where it is, and others can track it too. (Definition from the DOI Foundation.)

ISBN: International Standard Book Number - A unique identifier associated with a book. Note that each edition of a book is assigned a unique ISBN and that each format a book is published in (hardcover, paperback, ebook) will have a unique ISBN. For this reason, you may consider trying a title or keyword search if your ISBN search yields no results.

ISSN: International Standard Serial Number - A unique identifier associated with a journal name. ISSNs are especially useful when two or more journals have very similar names. Library databases typically include a journal's ISSN somewhere in the article record.