Though most of the library's databases offer the full text of numerous articles, they typically also offer citations for many more articles, which might be available in a different database or other publications. If the search results you're looking at list the title, author, and journal, etc., of an article, but don't provide a link to its full text, then you've found a citation for an article that isn't available in the database you're using.
But that doesn't mean that Oesterle Library doesn't have the article in another database, in print, or on microfiche. Below you'll find instructions on how to find the full-text of an article starting from a citation.
The information you need in order to locate an article at Oesterle Library
In order to find an article at the library, you need two pieces of information:
- The title of the periodical (the journal, magazaine, newspaper, etc.) that you're looking for
- The date of the article that you're looking for
In any citation you've found in a database (or anywhere else), you will always find the title of the periodical and the date of the article. If you're unsure on how to recognize this information in a citation, please see our Anatomy of a Citation guide.
Once you've determined the title of the periodical and the date of the article that you're looking for, your next step is to use the Browse journal, magazine and newspaper holdings feature on the Articles page.
You can use the "Browse" feature to find out what Oesterle Library's holdings are for any specific periodical for any specific date. If you enter a journal title into the "Browse" feature, you'll be able to definitively determine whether or not Oesterle Library has the specific article you're looking for, in any format (online, print, or microform).
Here's an example of what a Browse journal, magazine and newspaper holdings search looks like:
And here's what the search results look like:
The search results will tell you three things: first, does Oesterle library have this periodical in any format? In the case of The New York Times, the answer is yes.
Second, the results will tell you what format or formats the periodical is in, and which databases (if any) you'll find it. In the record above, you can see that Oesterle Library holds The New York Times in several different databases, including ProQuest Historical Newspapers and LexisNexis. By indicating the sources of "Freely Accessible Journals," the record is also telling you that the newspaper is available online for free. And when you see "Oesterle Library's Print Journals," you also know that the library holds physical copies of the periodical--in print, microfilm, and/or microfiche.
Finally, the results tell you what date range Oesterle Library holds for that periodical. In the example above, you can see that Oesterle Library has The New York Times through the ProQuest Historical Newspapers database from 1854 to 2004. If the article you're looking for falls within that date range, you're in luck: the library has it.
If you've found a match for what you're looking for in one of the library's databases, go ahead and follow the appropriate hyperlink from the search results page. For example: if you wanted to look at an article published in 1865, you'd probably want to click on the link to Proquest Historical Newspapers. When you follow that link, you'll find yourself in that database's search interface. Go ahead and enter the title of the article into the database's search box--you'll still have to run a search in order to find it, but now you already know that the article is available in that database.
If you discover that Oesterle Library doesn't have the article or journal that you're looking for, don't despair: we can still get it for you via interlibrary loan. For more information on how to request an article via interlibrary loan, please see our Getting Articles from Other Libraries page.
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