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BIOL 299: Biomechanics (Crofts): Find Articles

Getting Started: Keywords

Image by Wokandapix from Pixabay 

Here are some general tips to guide you in choosing your search terms:

- Use keywords or brief (2-word) phrases instead of sentences -- one or two for each part of your topic.

- Use nouns and verbs as your keywords.  Avoid most adjectives and adverbs.  Think of words that are likely to be used in titles (or that you have seen in titles).

- If your keywords aren't turning up many results, you may need to:

  • Try thinking of synonyms or other ways of phrasing your topic. If you can find one or two relevant articles, check to see what subjects are listed for them and try to build keywords from there. 
     
  • Try a broader search (broader topic, broader date-range, etc.)
  • If you are able to find an article or book on your topic, the database may list keywords or subject terms relevant to your topic.  Use these words listed by the database, or in the article.
    • You can also read the title and abstract of the article to find relevant keywords.

Reading Citations

How to read a journal article citation in APA format:

Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (Year). Title of article. Title of Journal, volume number(issue number), pages. https://doi.org/xx.xxx/yyyy

 

How to read a journal article citation in MLA format:

Author, A., and Author, B.  "Title of the Article."  Title of the Journal, vol. #, no. #, Day Month (abbrv.) Year, pp. page numbers, Database Name, doi number.

Steps to Finding Full Text

1)  If the article's citation ends with a URL or a DOI number, copy and paste it into the address bar of a web browser (like Google).  If you are on campus, this should bring you to a page about the article, and if we have full text access to the article through our subscriptions, you should see an option to download the full text PDF somewhere on the page.

**  Note ** This will NOT work if you are off-campus.  The full-text subscription access is verified through our on-campus IP address.  If you are off-campus, you are no longer using Holy Cross's IP address, and therefore the journal doesn't recognize that you have paid access.  You Holy Cross username and password will not work if you try to login to a journal from its webpage.  If you are off-campus, please go directly to step 2.

Steps to finding the full text of an article from an article title, or journal title:
 
2)  Type the title of the article into CrossSearch (the big purple box on the libraries' homepage).  CrossSearch will find some, but NOT all of the articles that we have access to.
  • If the full text is available, you will see a link that says, "PDF Full Text" or "Linked Full Text" - click this link to get the full text of the article.

                     screenshot of PDF full text icon         |            screenshot of link full text icon

  • If you see a purple "Check For Full Text" icon, this means that the article is not available in CrossSearch, but it may be available in another database.  Click this button.  

                                                        screenshot of the check for full text icon

  • The "Check For Full Text" button might send you directly into a new database where you will see the full text of the article.  You might also see a page that gives you a list of options:  
  • Under "Full Text Options" click a link.  This link will bring you into a new database where you can access the full text of the article.

 

3)  If CrossSearch does not find the article, check the Electronic Journals  (EJournals) List by searching for the Journal name (not the article name) in the "Find" box.

4) If you cannot find the article in CrossSearch or the EJournals list, check the Library Catalog by searching in the TITLE field for the JOURNAL NAME (not the article name) to determine if the journal is available in print in the libraries:

5) If you are unable to find the article using these steps, ask a librarian for help!  You may need to request the article through interlibrary loan.

Example Article

"A neck-like vertebral motion in fish" - https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2021.1091

Biology Databases

These databases have articles related to the field of biology:

Tracing Citations

Use Scopus or Google Scholar to discover articles that cited your original source.  This is a great way to find more recent articles related to your topic.

Interlibrary Loan

Request materials that we do not own in the Holy Cross Libraries' collections.  These materials will be lent from other libraries.  

Note:  Electronic articles or scanned book chapters usually take 1-2 business days or longer.  Print materials need to be shipped through the postal mail, and generally take 5-10 business days or longer.  

** Login to the ILLiad Interlibrary Loan System using your campus email account.  If this is the first time you're using the system, you will need to set up an account. **