Environmental Sciences

The absolute best way to search for journal articles is to use a journal article database. These are huge databases of journal articles in various disciplines. Journal article databases may also contain information on conference proceedings, patents, book chapters, and book reviews. Use the Databases link to learn more about specific databases that are useful to you. Some databases have tutorials available. The most difficult part is finding the right database and getting the right keywords. If you don't find something in 15 minutes, switch to another database. Better yet, contact me! I can provide quick tips for searching and save you time!

General Tips for Searching:

1. Use synonyms for words and alternate names for compounds

2. Use truncation (finds alternate endings of words). Usually a *. Example butterfl* will find butterfly or butterflies

3. Most databases do not search "natural language" so break the search into concepts. A search for soil erosion by water will need to be searched using "soil erosion" (use the " " to search terms as a phrase) and water.

4. Most databases now provide ways of automatically refining your search. ISI products (Web of Science, Biosis Previews) have search suggestions and limits on the left hand side of the screen, while Inspec and Compendex list these on the right side of the screen. Often very useful!

Getting the Article:

1. Most databases have links to items that are available in full text (the complete article is available online). However, these are not always accurate nor are they complete.
2. If you don't see a link to the full text or the link takes you to a site that asks for a credit card, go the the UNT Library Catalog (first link on the Libraries home page) and use the Journal Title search (far right tab) to search for the name/title of the journal (not the title of the actual article) to see if the Libraries has the journal in electronic or print form.
   
3. Journal title records can be difficult to read. Look first for any results that say "electronic resource" as this is the online format. These will have holdings information (what volumes and issues you can access) in the middle of the screen. I recommend trying the links anyway as sometimes they are incorrect. If there are a variety of options, select the one that looks like the publisher of the journal - sometimes it will say "from publisher" or you'll recognize that the link looks different from the others.
4. Records for items that we have in print will have a "library has" statement just under the name of the name of journal. This tells you which volumes and issues we have in our collection. Be sure to note which library the journals are located in.
5. If you have searched the UNT Library Catalog by Journal Title, then Title, then Keyword, and can't find the item you need, use our interlibrary loan system. The interlibrary loan process will look for the item in another library and bring it to you (usually via e-mail for journal articles). Access the interlibrary loan system at Create an ILLiad Account as a new user you will need to create an account, then request your item. This service is free!