1. Search Guide:
Searching for an article
that is available from the
library, but cannot be
easily found

2. Introduction
Many articles can be found easily by searching for the article title in the
library’s search box. However, in some cases, the search does not work
as expected and a few more steps are needed to find the article.
These slides will help you find articles that require a few more steps to
access.

3. What to do when the Article Links to a
Journal Page
If the link to the article takes you to a journal’s page instead of the
article itself, you will need to search for it from the journal’s page.
Here are some tips for doing this type of search.
In this example, we will look for this article:
Moore, J. C. (2012). A Synthesis of Sloan-C Effective Practices. Journal
of Asynchronous Learning Networks, 16(1), 91-115.

4. Begin by
searching for the
article title in the
library’s search
box

5. Click the link to
access the article.
(There are different
versions of this article
written over time. We
need the 2012 version.)

6. Click the link under
“Holding Information”
to access the article.

7. This webpage
indicates that the
library has 2
sources for
accessing the
journal.
 Note the dates
for each source.
Not all sources
have a complete
collection of
issues.
Since the article
was published in
2012, it can only
be found in the
first source.
Click the first link
to access it.

8. The link did not open the
article, but linked to the
collection of journal issues.
When this happens, continue
your search on this page.
• If a search box is provided,
enter the article name into
the search box.
• If a list of journal issues is
provided (as in this case),
search by issue.

9. In this case, the only
option is to search for
the desired issue
because a search box is
not provided.
 Click the year to view
the issues and click Issue
1.

10. Enter the article title in the search
box at the top.
OR
Scroll to find the desired article.

11. Click the article title
to access the article.
(In this case, the
article was quickly
found by scrolling.)

12. Click the PDF Full Text
link to open the
article.

13. Success!

14. Finding Articles Not Listed in the Search
Results
This is a continuation of the steps discussed in the previous example.
It is not unusual for articles to not be included in a library catalogue. Many articles
are published daily and it may take time for them to be found by using the library
website’s search box. Some are missed because there are simply too many articles
to make “findable” by the library’s search engine.
If the article you need does not appear when you search for it in the library’s search
box, it does not necessarily mean that the article is unavailable.
1. Once you have confirmed that the article is not listed in the library
catalogue, search for the journal.
2. If the journal is available, search for the article within the journal.

15. In this example, we will find this article:
Charlton, S. R., Fantino, E., & Gossett, B. D. (2012). Hyperbolic
discounting of delayed social interaction. Learning & Behavior, 05
October 2012. DOI 10.3758/s13420-012-0093-3

16. The first step is
to try searching
for the article
title in the
library’s search
box.

17. The article does not appear in
the first page of search results,
but there are many results.
 Try a strategy to limit the
search.

18. Using quotes around search
terms is an easy way to limit
search results. In this
case, we will enclose the
article title in quotes.

19. Since there are no results that
match the exact article title,
the article is not included in
the library catalogue.
The next step is to search for
the article within the journal.

20. Searching for a Journal
Journals that are part of the library’s collection can be found by
searching for the journal title in the same way as for other items.

21. Enter the name of the
journal into the search
box.

22. Success - the journal is
available from the library.
Click the journal title to
access.

23. There are a few choices for
accessing the journal. (Check
the dates because not all
sources carry the entire
journal.)
 Since our article was
written in 2012, click either of
the first 2 links to access it.

24. This site provides 3
options for finding an
Find the issue by
article.
using the
Volume/Issue
menu. Browse for
the article within Browse to find article by scrolling
the issue. (if the article is recent).

25. The next few slides
demonstrate the other
option of searching for
the article directly by
entering the title in the
search box.

26. Click the article title
to access it.

27. Click either PDF or
HTML options to view
the article.

28. Selecting the PDF is a good
choice if you wish to save a
copy of the article.

29. Questions?
If you need help or have other questions, do not hesitate to contact the
library. We will be pleased to assist you!
This document was created by: Genny Jon, LIS9751 Fall 2012