Articles & Databases: Help using this tab
FAQ about this tab:
Q: What is the Articles & Databases tab?
A: The Articles tab provides databases to search for:
- Articles in journals, magazines, newspapers.
- Other types of information such as images, data sets, music and other audio, video, and more.
Q: When should I use this tab?
A: When you want to search a wide scope of sources to discover articles (or data, images, video, etc.) on your topic.
Q: When should I not use this tab?
A: When you want to:
- Look for a specific article (i.e. you have the title, journal, issue, date).
- Browse a specific journal issue and read articles within it.
Q: The Library has 1,000+ databases. How do I know which one(s) to choose?
A: The first step in article searching is to choose a database (or set of databases) to search. To help you make an informed choice, the databases are conveyed in various ways:
- General databases: These are multidisciplinary and useful for a wide variety of topics.
- Databases by subject: Click a subject link to discover the most relevant databases for that subject area.
- Databases by format: Click a format (image, data, audio) link to discover relevant databases.
- Databases A-Z: If you know the particular database you want to use, you can select it from the A-Z list.
Q: What’s the next step?
Option 1: Search across a set of databases (using a metasearch tool)
- Good choice for: Searching broadly to get an overall idea of what’s available. (The downside is that the metasearch tool has only rudimentary search functionality.)
- How to do it: Select a category (for example, click the “Art” link) and enter your keywords in the search box at the top of the page. This searches across all of the check-marked databases on this page.
Option 2: Search an individual database (using its native interface)
- Good choice for: Specific, advanced, flexible searching
- How to do it: Select a category (for example, click the “Art” link) then click directly on a database name (for example, click the “Art Full Text” link) to launch the database. Enter your keywords.
Q: How do I get full text of an article?
When you’re searching across a set of databases:
- In the article record, click the “Check
availability (GetIt)” link.
- If full e-text is available: Under the “Electronic Version via” heading, one or more links to the article will appear.
- If no full e-text is available: Under the “Copies in the Library” heading, click the “Search for this title in BobCat” link to see if the bound journal is available in the Bobst stacks.
- If neither is e-text or print copy is available: You can request the article via our Interlibrary Loan system.
When you’re searching an individual database:
- In the article record, look for a full text icon/link and click it.
- If there’s no full text icon/link, look for the
gray NYU button and click it.
- If full e-text is available: Under the “Electronic Version via” heading, one or more links to the article will appear.
- If no full e-text is available: Under the “Copies in the Library” heading, click the “Search for this title in BobCat” link to see if the bound journal is available in the Bobst stacks.
- If neither is e-text or print copy is available: You can request the article via our Interlibrary Loan System.
Q: How do I save my search results?
When you’re searching across a set of databases:
- Log in to the Articles tab e-shelf (top right).
- For each record you want to save, check the “Add to e-shelf” box.
- In the “My Workspace” box (upper right) click the “My e-shelf’ link.
- The records you saved will appear on your e-shelf (and remain permanently if you’re currently logged in). The e-shelf also provides the option to email, print, or push/export (to RefWorks, EndNote, etc.) your saved records.
When you’re searching an individual database:
- Check the box pertaining to the record(s) you want to save
- Databases generally provide the option to email, print, or push/export (to RefWorks, EndNote, etc.) your selected records.
