Effective Writing Center (EWC)

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Online Guide to Writing and Research

Chapter 6 Table of Contents

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Chapter 6: Using Library Resources

Electronic Information Resources, the Internet, and the World Wide Web

How to Search for Journal Articles

Steps in Searching Web Databases for Journal Articles

Search the Web Databases

If possible, you should begin your search for articles using a full-text journal database because doing so may eliminate the need to visit a library to obtain the full text of the articles. If you do not find all of the information you need in the full-text versions, then search a journal database that provides only citations or abstracts.

Locate the Full Text of the Article

If you are searching a full-text database, you will be able to display the article and print it out or save it to a diskette.
Request an Interlibrary Loan

If you cannot find the full text of the article online, you may be able to go to a local public or academic library to obtain it. To obtain an article from a library, you will need the full citation from the journal index or database. Identify the title of the journal or newspaper in which the article was published from the article citation. Then, check the library’s catalog to see if it owns that journal or newspaper. For example, to check to see if a USM library owns a particular journal, you would search the library catalogs in VICTOR. If the library you are using does not own the journal, or if it is not available in a full-text database, you may obtain the article using the UMUC interlibrary loan service (ILL).

Online ILL forms are available on the Library Services Web page at https://illiad.umuc.edu/illiad/logon.html, or you may call the Office of Library Services at 301-985-7209 and ask that we mail or fax an ILL form to you. For long-distance calls outside of Maryland, Virginia, and Delaware, call 800-283-6832. For toll-free service in Maryland, Virginia, and Delaware, call 800-888-UMUC (8682). Please note that it will take at least a week, and often longer, for us to get articles to you using ILL.

Students who reside outside the United States should go to the Library Services Resources for Distant Students on the Library Services Web page at http://www.umuc.edu/library/ for more information on obtaining materials via ILL.

Report broken links or any other problems on this page to writingcenter@umuc.edu. Be sure to include the title of the chapter and section in your e-mail.

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