This guide includes information and resources designed to aid you in locating research for your research project. For further assistance with your research, contact the research desk or schedule an appointment with your librarian.

Some databases only give you the citation and abstract of the article.  o if you've found a perfect article, how do you get to the full text?

Direct links to full text

Some of the databases will give you links to the full text of some articles. If you find a link to the full text, use it!  If the link isn't there, it doesn't mean that we don't have the article, just that the database doesn't know if we have it.

Find It!

The easiest way to find out if we have an article is the Find it! ( ) button that should appear in most of our databases. The Find It! button searches Carleton and St. Olaf, and lets you know if we have the article, and if so, how to find it. If it's online, click the link to the full text. If it's in print, click the link to the catalog to find the call number for the journal. If the journal is at St. Olaf, use the Request button to have it be sent to you.

Catalyst

You can also directly search for the article title in Catalyst, on the Gould Library homepage. In cases where we have online access, there will be an "Online Access" link that will take you directly to the article. Otherwise, click on the article title for other options to access it.

Journals list

If you don't see the Find It! button, you can still search our journals list. Note down the Journal Title (not the article title), the year, issue, and page number of the article. Search the journals list for the journal title. If it comes up on the list, click the title of the journal to see all the places we have the journal, and which years are covered. Different places may cover different years, so pay attention to those dates. Follow links to get to the online full text, or go to the catalog for the call number of the print journal.

Google Scholar

Google Scholar indexes scholarly content on the Internet. If you search for the title of an article, you may find it available on multiple sites, some of which provide free access. It will also point you to the publisher's site, which will probably ask you for money to purchase the article. Never pay for an article; instead, order the article through Interlibrary Loan (see below).

Interlibrary Loan (ILL)

If we don't have access to the article, you can request it through Interlibrary Loan. From the Find It page, if no copies are available, click "Interlibrary Loan Request." You'll have to log in with your Carleton username and password, and then the form should be filled out for you. We will get a copy of the article for you from another library and sent to you electronically. Articles often arrive in 24-48 hours (Monday through Friday), but it can take longer. You can also submit a request manually through ILL.