Finding Articles > 3: Searching for Articles

3A: Use Periodical Indexes

Use a periodical index (sometimes called an article database) to identify an article on a research topic. This specialized database contains information about many articles and allows you to search for articles in various ways. Periodical indexes, like the one shown in the illustration, may provide:

• Citations
  The author, article title and source as well as other detailed information (volume, date of issue, pages, etc.) needed to locate the magazine or journal in your library.

• Abstracts
  Brief summaries of articles.

• Links to full-text
  Articles that may be read online.

3B: Finding Indexes

Libraries subscribe to a wide variety of online periodical indexes. Lists with descriptions of these databases are available on the library Web site to help you make good decisions about which to use. For example:

• OSU Libraries: Research Databases

There are several free article databases on the Web that can be useful. Use these to locate articles published in magazines (such as ArtForum, Forbes, or Science News.

• FindArticles.com (also called BNet Research Center)
• MagPortal.com

To find some scholarly journal articles for your research, try:

• Google Scholar

3C: Build Your Search

The number of search terms used is directly related to size of a database. For example, when searching Google, which indexes billions of Web pages, it's wise to use as many relevant search terms as possible, in order to narrow down results to a manageable size.

However, when searching in a specialized database, such as a periodical index, this strategy may not produce good results. Because they are smaller and more focused than Web search engines, the best strategy is to begin with only a few general search terms. Review your results and, if necessary, limit them in some logical way.

Examples:

• Article database: Buddhist art
• Web search engine: +Buddhist +art +Tibet +rituals +mandalas

3D: Search Database Fields

Searching in a periodical index offers great flexibility. A simple keyword search looks for your search words in many different parts (called "fields") of the database entry (record) for a particular article.

Many article databases allow you to limit your search to specific fields, such as the article title, in data records. As the illustration here shows, the Art Abstracts library database provides many searchable fields, but you must expand the search page to see some of them. Because this database focuses entirely on art, we can eliminate that term from our search for Buddhist art.

[Click image to enlarge.]

In many article databases, you may also restrict your search to certain types of publications (for example, only peer-reviewed), by date, by language, etc.

See a Movie

For useful tips, watch this short movie: Keyword and Subject Search in Academic Search Complete [opens in new window]

3E: BILS - Strategy for Subject Searching

When a database includes a subject field, searching by subject is often more effective than keyword searching. The keyword search is hit or miss, depending on the words you choose. Subject search results are more complete and comprehensive. But it's not always easy to find the correct subject terminology.

Try this strategy to find useful subject headings. Remember it by thinking of the letters BILS:

1. B - Browse keyword search results.
2. I - Identify a relevant record. You may need to browse a bit to find one that seems to represent what you are seeking.
3. L - Look at the subject terms used in this record and select any that seem relevant to your topic for the next step.
4. S - Search using these subject terms for more focused results.

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