Frequently Asked Questions about:
Finding journal articles for assignments and research
peer reviewed articles, searching for journal articles, Google Scholar, access problems
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- How can I tell if an article is peer reviewed?
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Articles published in peer-reviewed or refereed journals have been through a formal approval process. An editor and one or more subject specialists review the article before it is accepted for publication.
To find out if the article you want to use is peer-reviewed, see: Finding out if an article is peer-reviewed
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- My lecturer cited an article and I want to read it. How do I find out if the library has access to the article?
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If you have a full citation- that is, you know the details of the article and the journal it is printed in, then:
- Go to the library homepage.
- Enter the article title into Primo Search and click on Search.
Around 90% of the time, this will bring up the article that you are searching for in the results, and you can click on the links under View Online to read the article.
If this search didn't find your article, then:
- Click on "Find Information" in the left navigation pane and select "Article Finder" from the menu.
- Place the citation details into the boxes and click "Go"
- Follow the links to the full text of the item. If the article is not held online you will be prompted to check the CSU catalogue for a print version.
For further information, see: Primo Search: finding articles & journals on the Online Tutorials page
- How do I find journal articles about my topic?
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You can find journal articles on your topic using Primo Search, which can locate a wide range of books, journals, journal articles and other resources. Alternatively, you can use the CSU Library journal databases to refine your search.
Go to the Journal Databases web page
- From the Browse by Subject list, click on the discipline which matches your topic.
- Select databases from the list.
- Search for articles on your topic by using keywords
For further information, see:- How to search a database
- InfoSkills@CSU Topic analysis module and Databases modules
- Online Tutorials about journal articles
- I have found some articles in the database, but they only have abstracts. How can I get the full text?
- One database may have the abstract only of an article but another database may have the full text.
If the article does not have full text, click on the SFX linker
to see if it is in another database. - How do I choose a database for my topic?
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Databases vary considerably in what topics they cover. Some databases cover a specific range of disciplines, often in great depth. These may be indexed by organisations, associations or libraries that have professional expertise in the discipline they cover.
Other databases cover many disciplines. These may tend to have more full text.
To choose databases best for your topic
- Go to the Journal Databases web page
- From the Browse by Subject list, click on the discipline which matches your topic.
- Select databases from the list
- How do I know if an article has full text available?
- When an article has full text, there is an icon linking to the article
The full texts of articles are usually in .pdf format and sometimes in .html format. A .pdf is a photocopy of the article whereas an .html file is a web page.
The icon for a .pdf often looks like this:
The icon for an .html document is often like this:
Generally, all you have to do is find the pdf or html icon and click on it to open the full text. - What is an abstract?
- An abstract is a self contained summary of the article. It does not evaluate or review the article. An abstract is not an excerpt from the article, it is an original work. Some databases have both abstracts and articles, some have only abstracts.
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- Is Google Scholar different from Google?
- Yes, Google Scholar is more specific than Google and provides scholarly literature results. Sources include: articles; theses; books; abstracts; and court opinions from academic publishers, professional societies, online repositories, universities and other web sites.
- How are my results ordered?
- Google Scholar aims to order documents the way researchers do, considering where it was published, who it was written by, as well as how often and how recently it has been cited in other scholarly literature.
- Will Google Scholar find the same material as Primo Search?
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Google Scholar and Primo Search can both search across the CSU Library's physical holdings and electronic resources. However, Google Scholar will locate a lot of material that the CSU Library does not subscribe to, while you will have access to almost all of the material you find using Primo Search unless you specifically choose to widen your search.
When using Google Scholar, you can set your user preferences to show which resources can and cannot be accessed via CSU.
See the Google Scholar Watch-it! Tutorial
for more information. - Can I export references from Google Scholar to EndNote?
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Yes.
See the Library's Google Scholar Watch-it! tutorial
for how to do this.
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- I am seeing a message saying "login ID is already in use" or "limit for concurrent users has been reached." What does this mean?
- Some databases have a limit to the number of users that can access it at one time - if you get one of these (or similar) messages, it means that the limit has been met. You will be able to access the journal database, you may just need to wait a bit longer before trying again.
- When I click on an SFX link, an error message appears. What's wrong?
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The link to the database may have changed, or it may be temporarily unavailable. There are a few things you could try:
- If you are accessing the link from Primo Search, try one of the other links on the list
- Try going directly into the database from the Journal Databases page.
- Send details of your search and the problem to us using our Ask a Question Web Form
- When accessing the Full Text of an article in the journal databases or other electronic source, nothing happens. What should I do?
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Make sure your pop-up blockers are turned off. To do this, follow these steps:
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Internet Explorer
Go to Tools > Pop-up Blocker > Turn off Pop-up Blocker
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Click image to enlare.
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Firefox
Go to Tools > Options. Select the Content tab > Untick Block popup windows
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Click image to enlare.
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- Google Chrome
Click the wrench icon
on the browser toolbar > Settings > Under the Hood tab > Content Settings in the Privacy Section > In the Pop-ups section select Allow all sites to show pop-ups.
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Mac-Safari
From the Safari Menu untick Block Pop-Up Windows
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Click image to enlare.
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- For other browsers, please see your browser's help menu
You will need to have an up-to-date PDF reading program like Adobe Reader on your computer - you can get Adobe Reader from the Adobe website.
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Internet Explorer
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