Graduate Research: Guide to the Literature Review

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.  

Interpreting Find a Journal search results

In Find a Journal, type the journal's name in the top search box (or browse title instead).  

For example, a search for Rolling Stone magazine in Journal Finder produced these results:  

Click on the hyperlinked title of the journal to get the following page.

1. If the journal is available online, the search results will display a list of the databases that contain the journal's articles.

Each database link will take you into the database to get the article you need.

In the example above, Rolling Stone is available in these three (3) online databases:

Proquest Research Library

Academic Search Premier in Ebscohost

MasterFILE Premier in Ebscohost. 

2. Note the dates for which we have issues of the journal! 

Proquest Research Library issues are available from 1992 to the present

but

Academic Search Premier has issues of Rolling Stone from 1990 to the present

3) Click the link to one of the databases that has the date range of the magazine you need

b.  If the journal is in print or microfilm in the library, there will be a link to the item labeled "Check Holdings at Dakota State University".

Note the dates for which we have issues of the journal!

c. If zero (0) results are returned from a search of Journal Finder, the Mundt Library does not have the magazine or journal you searched.

Here, you will need to request the article you need through Interlibrary Loan.

Expand access to more full text content in Google Scholar

You may increase access to full articles in Google Scholar searches by setting preferences to include some of the items for which the DSU Library is paying. Follow these instructions.

A. Set Google Scholar preferences

FIRST, do a search in Google Scholar for:  computer security

1.On the results screen of your Google Scholar search, do you see any links on the right side of the screen labeled "Get It@ DSU?"  To see these links you MUST set your Scholar Preferences to show DSU links.

2.To set Scholar preferences:

• If you are signed into your google account when selecting these preferences, they'll be preserved for future use in Google Scholar.
• Go to the Settings section of Google Scholar. This should be on the left side of the screen under a menu image of three horizontal lines.
• In the "Library Links" area of the preferences, search for "Dakota State University."
• In the list displayed, select all of these:
  • Dakota State University - GetIt@DSU
  • Dakota State University - Proquest Fulltext
  • Open WorldCat - Library Search
• SAVE your settings, and you will have a Library Links screen similar to the image shown below:

B. Get It@ DSU

1. After setting your library links as described above, you will see a change on the results screen of your Google Scholar searches.  For some items, you will see links labeled "Get It@ DSU"  off to the right side of the screen.   An example is pictured below:

If no link is found on the right side of the screen, look for the Get It@ DSU link in the last line of the item.