5 How Databases Can Help Your Research
In the information cycle of academic research, most new findings first appear in journal articles and only years later — if ever — in books. The easiest way to find information pertinent to your art history topic often is to use databases, which gather references to journal articles, and can be accessed via the PSU Library website. This video recaps the key features of what an academic database is:
To access the art history ones available to you as a PSU student, the Art History Subject guide has a list. But sometimes the more general databases — like JSTOR and Academic Research Premier — also have useful resources.
.
.
Getting the Articles You Find
If the PSU Library has access to the journal:
Most of the articles you find in databases have links to full text, so that lets say you were looking for articles on the Isfahan Mosque in JSTOR and came across this entry:
You can access the actual article by Prof. Neci̇poğlu by following the links through JSTOR, and have the option of downloading the pdf or reading it online.
If PSU Library doesn’t have access to the journal:
But what if you don’t see a link to the article available from the database, and the PSU Library catalog shows that our library doesn’t have a physical copy or online access? Don’t despair.
Let’s say while hunting for material on Google Scholar, you came across this reference that looks potentially useful for your research topic:
After using the PSU Library search engine, you learn that the journal this particular article is in, Dumbarton Oaks Papers, only has earlier issues available through the library site. If you still have several weeks before the paper deadline, you might want to use Interlibrary Loan to get the article, which is a service through the library site in which you request an article or book from another library.
Here’s how you get it:
- From the PSU LIbrary main website, click on Help and Services.
- Then, under the Use Your Library column, click on Interlibrary Loan (ILL)
- Login to ILL, then fill in the info to request the article and you should get it within 1-2 weeks as a link from an email
Easy, right?
.
.
More about Databases
From the Yavapai College Library
.
.
Check Your Understanding
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
