What if you need an article, but you have found only a citation and abstract for it?
The full article may be available in one of our other research databases, so take the following steps:
1. Journal Finder.
Use the Library’s “Find a Journal” to discover if the journal you need is available in full in one of our other research databases.
- “Find a Journal” can be found in the center box on the library’s home page.
- Go to Find a Journal
- Enter the name of the journal you need in the Journal Finder search box.
- If the Library has access to the journal, the results will tell you the publication years available and will provide a link to the database where the journal can be accessed.
2. Google Scholar.
If the year/issue of the journal you need can’t be found in Journal Finder, you can go to Google Scholar and search for the specific article.
- Sometimes you will be able to get the full article using this method, if it available from some location for free on the internet.
- You may increase the number of full text articles you can find in Google Scholar searches by setting preferences to include items for which the DSU Library is paying. For instructions, see "Finding full text DSU sources with Google Scholar" elsewhere on this page.
3. Interlibrary Loan.
If neither of the two above steps gets you to the full article, request the Library to get the article for you through Interlibrary Loan. Please note:
- The Library can’t guarantee a specific delivery time for articles requested through Interlibrary Loan, so it’s not an ideal solution if you know you need an article within a few days.
- For class assignments where you need an article quickly, and you could choose a different article, then it often makes sense to search for full text articles only in the Library's research databases. Many of the research databases provide an option to limit the search to full articles -- either when you enter the search or on the results screen. When you have a very short turnaround time, this may be the only free and expedient solution for getting the material you need.
- For projects where you want to be sure you are selecting the best and latest articles, then you won’t want to limit yourself by searching for full text articles only. In that case, it’s best to do research no less than 3 weeks before you want to read the material. That gives time for interlibrary loan of most articles that can only be retrieved through interlibrary loan. This is why we recommend never waiting until the last minute to do the research for major research projects, because doing so limits your ability to get the best material.
