How to find articles

PCC Library
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How Do You Find Articles?

What kind of articles do you need?

Research? Popular Magazine? Peer Reviewed Journal? Newspaper? Opinion? Current Events?

Remember, all articles are not created equal. Take a look at "Types of Periodicals".

What is your topic area?

Biology? Education? Social Sciences? History?

You might like to take a few minutes to get an idea of what kinds of periodicals are available in your subject area. Take a quick trip through the Periodicals Section of your campus library or check titles via the library's online catalog. Many periodicals have their own web version too. You probably will not be able to locate the perfect articles for your specific needs just by browsing through the periodical shelves or websites - unless you have many hours of extra time to spend. This is just to give you an idea of what types of resources exist.

The quickest most efficient way to find articles on a specific topic is to use an index.

What's an index?

An index is "tool" we use to find information by subject.

You have probably used the index of a book many times. If you want a recipe for curried chicken out of the "Joy of Cooking" you go to the back of the book (to the index) and look up "chicken" or "curry". The index gives you a page number where you can find what you want - simple.

Periodical indexes are similar. Periodical indexes locate articles in periodical sources like journals, magazines, newspapers, newsletters, and e-journals.

Indexes can be in print form (big fat book) or electronic form (computer database).

Print Indexes	Electronic Indexes
Issued as paper volumes that are published monthly and then bound into hard covered yearly editions.	Often called databases. Some come on CD-ROM others come via the Internet.
Advantages	Advantages
Go back many years - good for historical research, reviews, and opinions	Can usually search several years at one time
Seeing the subject headings can help you to narrow or broaden your topic area.	Many searching options: full-text, limit by date, title, advanced searching
Works even when the power goes out	Many are accessible via the Internet for home use

You can quickly and easily find articles from periodicals by using one of the PCC library databases.

Click on the "DATABASES" button on the PCC Library Web Site Home Page to log on.

The following databases provide access to a wide variety of periodical articles:
Academic Search Premier
Academic Universe: Lexis Nexis
Info Trac OneFile
Expanded Academic ASAP
Readers Guide Full Text

You must be a currently enrolled PCC student to access the databases.