Searching for a specific article

There are two ways to search for a specific article.

Use Library Search

In Library Search, the main search box on the library homepage, type the beginning of the article title and the last name of the author (the first author if there are more than one).

Here is an example of an article citation: Gibbons, A. (2006). Ancient figs push back origin of plant cultivation. Science, 312(5778), 1292–1292.

And here is the search you might use: "ancient figs push back” gibbons. (The quotation marks will search for that exact phrase.)

Screenshot of Library Search using the title "ancient figs push back" and the author "gibbons." Next to the Search Terms box is a button with the word "Everything."

To read online articles, click on the title of the article or the Available Online link. Click on a link under Full text availability to open the complete article.

Browse the journal to find an article

Another way to find an article, if you have the full citation, is to find the journal or other serial in the library’s collections and browse (or search) to find the article you need.

Go to Journals on the library homepage. Search for the journal title and click on it to expand.

Screenshot of Journal Search using the journal title Reading Research Quarterly.

Under Online Access, Full Text Availability, look at the available collections that contain the journal or other serial of interest. Click on a link that contains the year you need and navigate to a specific issue.

Screenshot of the Journal Search showing Online Access, Full text availability, with a link to the EBSCOhost Education Source database, which is available from January 1, 1994 on, excluding the most recent one year.

To find a particular issue, look at the date ranges on the journal entry. Look for the date of publication for your article (it may be just a year or a month/day/year), and then click on the appropriate link.

For example, in the following citation, look for the journal Reading Research Quarterly and coverage for the year 2017. You should also note the volume (52) and issue number (4): Tompkins, V., Bengochea, A., Nicol, S., & Justice, L. M. (2017). Maternal inferential input and children’s language skills. Reading Research Quarterly, 52(4), 397–416. https://doi.org/10.1002/rrq.176

In this case, you can find Volume 52, Number 4, 2017, in several collections, including the EBSCOhost Education Source database.

You may be taken directly to a list of issues and dates, or you may need to look for a link that says Archive or Browse the Archive.

When you have the correct issue, look for your article. Articles typically appear in page number order. (You may be able to search within a particular journal, depending on the website.) Click on the article title or look for a link to a PDF or HTML (Read Online) version of the article.

If you don’t find the article you need

If the library does not have an article you want, you can request it through Interlibrary Loan. See Requesting Books and Articles Through Interlibrary Loan for more information.