This document provides an overview of finding electronic journal articles. It discusses peer-reviewed journals and how to access full-text journal titles through the library catalogue or E-journals A-Z. It also outlines the steps for performing a literature search, including defining a research topic using keywords, identifying appropriate information sources, searching the sources, and downloading relevant results. Finally, it offers tips for choosing databases, refining searches, and combining search terms.

1. S T E V E M C I N D O E
S T E V E . M C I N D O E @ M A N C H E S T E R . A C . U K
Finding electronic journal
articles

2. Overview
Introduction to e-journals
Downloading articles
Literature searching
Finding and using databases
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3. Peer-reviewed journals
 Academic journals
 Original research
 Critiques/ reviews
of existing research
 Article details and
abstracts added to
databases
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4. Finding articles @ JRUL
 Over 40,000 full-text journal titles available
 Accessible via Library Catalogue or E-journals A-Z
 Search by journal title
Catmull, E. (2008) How Pixar fosters collective
creativity. Harvard Business Review. 86 (9) 64-
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5. Literature searching
Define your research topic using
keywords
Identify appropriate information
sources
Search the information sources
Download relevant search results
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6. Identifying search terms
Identify main
concepts
Select keywords
Synonyms and
related terms
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7. Combining terms
AND will only return
articles mentioning both
terms
OR will look for synonyms,
alternative spellings,
abbreviations and plurals
NOT can be used to
exclude terms from your
search
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8. Choosing information sources
 Subject databases
 Only high-quality, peer-reviewed articles
 Advanced search functionality
 Links to full-text where available
 Google Scholar
 Peer-reviewed articles
 Access to data not covered by other databases
 Links to full-text where available
 Check validity of search results
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9. Refining your search
 Use limits to narrow the focus of your search
 Full-text only, date limits, article type (reviews,
clinical trials, letters etc), language
 Use truncation and wildcards to broaden
your search
 Comput* to find computers, computing,
computation etc
 Nationali?ation to find nationalisation or
nationalization
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10. Search exercise
 Explore databases in your subject area
 Search for articles for your research
 Select 5 articles from your results and email
them to:
steve.mcindoe@manchester.ac.uk
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