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Library Research 101: Start Your Research

What is an article?

An article is

  • A work of non-fiction writing found in a periodical or anthology.
  • A scholarly article will include references to other sources
  • A scholarly, peer-reviewed article will be evaluated by peers of the author before it is published.

An article can be found in a periodical                                               

        A periodical can be a:  

  • Newspaper                                                                                                                 
  • Magazine 
  • Scholarly or trade Journal
 Cover of the journal Reading Research Quarterly

What are the different types of articles?

 

Scholarly articles 

  • Include in-text citations to other sources in the article
  • Include a bibliography or reference list will at the end 
  • Will be authored by experts in the field
  • Will be written for an academic audience 
  • Will assume familiarity with the topic

Peer-reviewed scholarly articles

  • Include in-text citations to other sources in the article
  • Include a bibliography or reference list at the end 
  • Will have sources written by other experts in a particularly field 
  • Will be authored by experts in the field 
  • Will be reviewed by a panel of experts before it is published
  • Will be written for an academic audience
  • Will assume familiarity with the topic

Trade articles

  • May or may not include in-text citations to other sources
  • Will not usually include a reference list
  • Are written by practitioners in a field (e.g. dentist, accountant)
  • Are written for other practitioners in a field
  • May assume familiarity with the topic
  • Are generally shorter than scholarly or peer-reviewed articles

Popular articles

  • Usually will not include in-text citations or a bibliography
  • Will be written for a general audience
  • May Include pictures or photos
  • May be 'short' (i.e. 1 to 2 pages) in length
  • are often authored by someone not an expert in a field

Where can I find an article?

These are some of the places you can find articles. In general the library's resources (print and online journals, online databases) are best when you are looking for peer-reviewed scholarly or trade articles. 

Open web resources include things from Google or other search engines and information provided from social media sites. While it is possible to find some scholarly articles this way you will often face a paywall to access them. Also information from these sources is harder to verify for things like accuracy and may be biased.

  • From the Library 
  • The Open Web
    • Google (best for popular and news articles, the occasional journal article)
    • Google Scholar (some scholarly and peer-reviewed articles) (Hint: you can first register with Fogler through Google Scholar)
    • Newspaper websites (New York Times, Wall Street Journal etc.) (newspaper articles)
    • Magazine websites (Time, The Economist, etc.)
   

How to access articles behind paywalls

Sometimes you find an article, but can't open the full text.  If that happens, you still have several options:

 

  • If you are searching on the open Web (i.e. through Google), you can download the URSUS Proxy Bookmarklet. Once you have this downloaded, if you find an article you are asked to pay for, you can click on the Bookmarklet to see if Fogler Library has free access.
  • If you are searching with OneSearch, or some other database, and you don't get the full text of an article, you can search for the journal title in Fogler's ejournal list.  You will need to make note of the year, volume, issue number, and pages for the article before you do this search.
  • If you still can't find the full text, you can use Fogler's free Interlibrary Loan service to request a copy of the article, which generally takes 24 hours.  You first need to set up your free account, by clicking on Create an Account.  Then you choose the format of the information you want to request (i.e. New Request/Article) and fill out the form.

 

And, at any point in your search process, you can contact a librarian to ask for help!

 

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