To systematically search for articles published in journals, magazines, conferences, and other serial literature, it is necessary to employ an indexing service. Most article indexes are now available as databases. However, it is important to keep in mind that all databases feature limitations. For example, the majority of databases do not cite information on articles further back than 1970. Occasionally, a database (such as Medline) may report on literature that is older, but many, many databases do not offer coverage even back to 1970. For comprehensive literature searches, it is usually necessary to begin with databases, and then to continue with print indexes that are older. It can also be extremely useful to take advantage of the citation network. For example, if you locate a relevant article, search on the author of the article to see if he or she has written similar articles; alternatively, if you locate a relevant article, search to see what other articles cite your article.
The following databases fall into 2 categories: index only and full text.
Index only databases
Index only databases contain information about articles such as author, title, where to locate the article and abstracts, but they do not contain the actual article. There are often links to the full text of the article, but generally there is a charge for this service. To access the article for no charge, use LinkSource, or look to see if MSOE subscribes to the journal in print or electronically. If you are still unable to access the article, send the citation to interlibraryloan@msoe.edu.
Full text databases
Full text databases contain the same information as index only databases, but you can usually access the full text of the article for no charge. Because of restrictions from journal publishers, not all of the articles are available for free. If you come across an article that is not available, send the citation to interlibraryloan@msoe.edu for no-charge access.
All of MSOE's databases are linked together through a program call LinkSource. Look for this icon and use it when it is available. LinkSource looks through all of the electronic subscriptions owned by MSOE's library to determine if the full text article is available in another database. If the article isn't available, you have the option to fill out an Interlibrary Loan form to order a copy of the article.
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