Finding Articles
Step One: Finding your database
You have a research topic and now you need a relevant database to search. To do this just turn to one of the side boxes for lists of relevant databases. Remember - if one database isn't giving you the results you want, feel free to switch to another database.
Step Two: Finding online articles
There are three ways to find online articles:
- Directly through a database, which will provide a link to online articles through the Library's Discover Full Text (Note: it's in a blue box).
- Through one of the Library's online catalogs: U of I Collection or Easy Search.
- Not all online journals can be found in a database or the online catalog. To find them, search the Library's Online Journals by title of the journal. Please note this site only lets you search for journals and not individual articles.
Step Three: Finding print articles
Not everything is available in electronic format. Keep your citation (name of journal, volume, and issue) handy. Now search the Library's online catalog for the location of the print journal.There are two ways to search the online catalog.
- Through the new Primo Catalog.
- Through the Easy Search.
Look to see which library holds the issue or volume that you need and jot down the location and call number. Now you need to visit a departmental library to make a photocopy. There are a number of scanners in the Library. Many are located in Room 200 and the Main Stacks.
Step Four: Interlibrary Loan
If your article is not available in full-text online and it is not available in print, you can request the article through Interlibrary Loan and Document Delivery. Make sure to choose "Request a photocopy" and fill out the entire form, including the source of the citation. This process typically takes 7-10 days, so plan ahead! Interlibrary Loan will most likely deliver your article as a .pdf file to your email address.
Relevant Databases
- Iter: Gateway to the Middle Ages and Renaissance This link opens in a new window
Alternate version: Iter in the classic EBSCO user interface (best for exporting more than 50 results or combining saved searches). Contains electronic resources for researchers in the study and teaching of the Middle Ages and Renaissance (400-1700). Enables users to access citations in journal, book, and reviews databases; provides online access to Paul Oskar Kristeller's Iter Italicum (a finding list of Renaissance humanistic manuscripts); provides access to the International Directory of Scholars (a comprehensive directory of contact information, and information on the research and teaching careers of scholars around the world). Subscription includes a membership to the Renaissance Society of America.
- Brepolis Medieval and Early Modern Bibliographies This link opens in a new windowThe Brepolis Medieval and Early Modern Bibliographies are multidisciplinary bibliographies of Europe, North Africa and the Near East (300-1500), founded in 1967 with the aim of providing a comprehensive, current bibliography of articles in journals and miscellany volumes (conference proceedings, essay collections or Festschriften) worldwide. The bibliographies comprise 365,000 articles, all of which are fully classified by date, subject and location, and provide full bibliographical records.
- JSTOR This link opens in a new windowProvides page images of back issues of the core scholarly journals in the humanities, social sciences, and basic sciences from the earliest issues to within a few years of current publication. Users may browse by journal title or discipline, or may search the full-text or citations/abstracts. New issues of existing titles and new titles are added approximately on a weekly basis. The University of Illinois has access to the following JSTOR collections: Arts & Sciences I-XV, 19th Century British Pamphlets, Business IV, Global Plants, Hebrew Journals, Ireland, Life Sciences Collection, Lives of Literature, Security Studies, Struggles for Freedom - South Africa, Sustainability, and World Heritage Sites - Africa.
- Oxford Bibliographies Online This link opens in a new windowOffers peer-reviewed annotated bibliographies on specific topics in a growing range of subject areas. There are at least 50 specific topical bibliographies in each subject area. Each of these features an introduction to the topic. Bibliographies are browseable by subject area and keyword searchable. Contains a My OBO function that allows users to create personalized bibliographies of individual citations from different bibliographies.
