Finding Articles

If an article database provides you with only a citation (information about the article, including when and where it appeared in print) but not the content of the article itself, you need to go further than the database to read the article.

Below are some tips to get you started. For help, contact the Reference Desk.

Deciphering an article citation

An article citation includes information such as the author(s), article title, name of the journal of magazine where the article was published, the date, a volume number, and page number.

When the full text of an article is not provided to you by an article database, the information in the citation is critical to locating the article. We recommend printing the complete citation to any article you find referenced that you think you might want to use in your research.

Journals List

Most students prefer to access an article online. To search for the full text of an article in any of the databases to which Hope subscribes, use the Journals List.

Enter the title of the journal or magazine in which the article appeared in the search box. The Journals List will provide a link to any database where the content of that publication is provided full-text and the dates for which it is available.

If a link to the article is not provided, follow the Hope College Journal Holdings link. The resulting screen will display the formats and dates for which we have holdings of that title:

For example, we have holdings of Dance Magazine in the following formats:

• Bound; for issues published between January 1969 and December 1985.
• Microfiche; for issues published between January 1986 and March 2005.
• And on the current periodical shelves between April 2005 and June 2005.

Note the call number beneath the format indication (e.g., MICROFICHE). Be sure to write down the call number and format for your article citation. This information is critical to locating the article within the library.

Current issues are on the first floor. Bound journals in call number order in the Main Stacks. Some journals are on microfiche or microfilm.

Microfilm and Microfiche

Microfilm and microfiche readers and their printer are located on the second floor of Van Wylen Library. Assistance with microfilm and microfiche is available at the Reference Desk on the first floor.

When the cited article is not available at Van Wylen Library

If you want to read an article that is not available here electronically or in any physical form it can probably be obtained for you through the library’s interlibrary loan service.