Some articles are freely available
on the Internet, but the best selections for college research are provided by
databases such as EBSCOhost or ProQuest. Many article databases are available on
NCLIVE, which is sponsored by The
State of North Carolina, and the library subscribes to other database services
for our students.
To find articles:
1. Go to the Holly Library home page on the Internet or go to the A-B Tech homepage, click on “Students”, then select “Holly Library.”
2. Click on “Find Journal Articles: Quick Search” which links directly to Ebsco’s Academic Search Premier database.
3. Put a check in the “Full Text” box on the search screen.
4. Enter keywords in the Find search box. These keywords should best describe
your topic. Most database search engines allow you to combine terms using
the words and, or, or not to narrow or broaden the search:
recycle and plastic -- narrows the focus
recycle or reuse -- broadens the focus
Most database search engines also accept truncation symbols, such as *
or ?, which retrieve all the variations of the root word: recycl* retrieves the words recycle,
recycles, recycling, recyclable, etc.
5. Save, e-mail, print, or write down the citation and/or full-text of the articles. Keep these for your "Works Cited" list. The citation includes the title, author, name of publication, date of publication, and page numbers. If the article is in full-text, you will also need information about the database provider.
6. To see suggestions of other databases to search, click on the “Find Journal Articles: Subject Search” link on the library homepage.
To
see the original publication of an article:
1. Check the Holly Library Periodicals Holdings List to see if the magazine is available from this library. Issues published during the calendar year are in the Current Periodicals shelving on the upper level of the library. Prior years' issues can be obtained at the circulation desk.
2. Check the Mountain College Library Network Holdings List. If a MCLN library subscribes to the desired publication, fill out an MCLN request form and the article will be faxed to the Holly Library free of charge within 48-72 hours. Please ask the library staff if you need help.
3. The article may not be available using the methods above. If so, you may want to check the holdings lists of other area libraries, or ask the library staff for assistance with interlibrary loan.