Journal articles

The quickest and easiest way to check if you can access this article is to search LibrarySearch by article title, eg "Student perceptions of effective instruction and the development of critical thinking: a replication and extension".

Check your results to make sure it's found the correct item, then follow 'Download PDF', or 'Check for online access' to open.

If you're not already logged into the Intranet, you'll be asked to do so when accessing the full text. PDFs can be saved and kept.

If the full text is not available on LibrarySearch, try the same search in, eg Google. Google is likely to be more successful in these circumstances than eg Scholar, as it indexes more content. If keyword searching, however, use Scholar.

Yes. But, it might depend on your subject area.  

Although most databases/journal collections index their content on LibrarySearch, some do not integrate. As such, they hold unique content that can only be found by searching the individual databases. Not an exhaustive list, but the following databases are examples:

• Westlaw - used by Law
• Lexis - used by Law
• Construction Information Service - used by Engineering

Check your Subject Guide for details of databases specific to your subject area.

Usually a basic article title search works well, but consider:

• punctuation - very occasionally punctuation within the article title, eg !, "" can interfere with the search. If your search yields no results, quickly check and remove any rogue punctuation.
• sub-titles - occasionally, it's possible to put too much into your search. If your search yields no results, remove the subtitle and keep your search really simple.
• typos - check for any typos, either from spelling or from where you copied the article title.

LibrarySearch should be your go-to search tool. It's great for:

• searching across our subscribed content quickly and easily
• linking easily to the full-text
• and you have the reassurance that the results are of quality

Video: a 5min introduction to using LibrarySearch

Sitting behind LibrarySearch is our A-Z list of online resources. Use these in conjunction with LibrarySearch:

• for unique content not indexed in LibrarySearch, eg Westlaw and Lexis
• for a more systematic approach to literature searching. For example your assessment may require you to record your search strategy - individual databases have better functionality to allow this
• for quality content other than journal articles eg Statista. Some of our databases hold different types of content that you may wish to explore.

Check out your subject guide for the databases/resources most relevant to your subject area.

Many students start their search with Scholar, and miss out on a huge collection of subscribed content available within LibrarySearch and the A-Z. Yes, use Scholar and Google, but be aware of what they're good for:

Scholar is good for:

• searching and finding open access content
• broadening your search outwith the Library collection - be aware though you will not have access to any subscribed content outwith Abertay's collection

Remember to configure your Scholar settings to allow easy linking to full text content you do have access to.

Google is good for:

• accessing content not indexed within Scholar ie article title search. Given the number of results you'll get from a keyword search in Google, it would be better advised to search specific sites.  Check your Subject Guides for any sites of interest. Or an advanced Google search will let you search within eg a domain - handy if a site search is poor.
• accessing non academic content eg government publications or company reports

When using LibrarySearch to keyword search for journal articles, before checking the results, consider the following. Many of these can also be applied to individual databases and Google/Scholar.

• Should you apply any filters?  For example, if you know you're only after journal articles, use the filters down the right hand side to change Content Type to eg 'Peer-reviewed Journals'.
• Creation date - choose a publication date. Depending on your topic, you may only want content published within a specific time frame. Change the dates and apply
• Use search terms and connectors eg by enclosing a term in double quotation marks "mental health", your search will find the term used within the "". Otherwise, a search for mental health is effectively searching for mental AND health.

Now check out your results.  If you need to change or add any keywords, select 'Remember all filters' first. This will retain any filters you have chosen whilst you explore your keywords. 

Wherever you search, if the results aren't what you'd hoped for, review your keywords. Search tools will only find what you tell them to search for, so the clearer your instructions are, the better the results.