Physics: Finding Full-Text

So, you've found an article citation and you want to get the entire article. What do you do? Where do you go to find the article? You will need to find a copy of the journal.

Students taking all distance learning classes (and, therefore, are assumed to not have easy access to ISU's campus) during a semester can request that Interlibrary Loan send them physical materials owned by ISU's Cunningham Memorial Library. Some materials, such as DVDs and reference materials, do not qualify.

LinkSource is a software program that connects ISU databases together to allow access to full text. ISU uses the link Check For Availability. If full text is not available in the database, click on Check For Availability to see if it is full text in another ISU database. A new window will open on your computer. If possible, you will be linked directly to the full text article, but sometimes you are linked to the journal page and you have to browse to the appropriate date, volume, issue, and page numbers.

DO NOT BUY THE ARTICLE. If you are given an option to buy the article, don’t! Use our Interlibrary Loan (ILL) service to get the article for free. ILL costs are covered by your tuition.

To find articles on reserve,
1.   Go to the Library Homepage at http://library.indstate.edu/

1.      click on "Course Reserve" from the Library homepage.

2.      Then click on "Electronic Reserves & Reserve Pages." You can browse for reserve items by course number, department, or instructor.

Some ISU print journals are located in Remote Storage. This storage space is only accessible to library personnel. The library send staff to Remote Storage once a day in the afternoon to pick up requested items and bring them back to the Circulation Desk.

To request a Remote Storage item,

1. Go to the ISU Library homepage at http://library.indstate.edu/
2. Under Quick Links, click the Questions drop-down and select request a remote storage item.The Remote Storage Retrieval Form appears.
3. Fill out the form and click Submit.
4. In the late afternoon or the next morning, go to the Circulation Desk and ask if your item has arrived.

Some older issues of journals are available on Microform or Microfilm in the ISU Library. This is when the journal pages have been placed on pages or reels of film. 

To view Microfilm or Microform item,

1. Go to the ISU Library homepage at http://library.indstate.edu/
2. Enter the journal title into the search box of the Library Catalog. Select "Journal Title" and click Search.
3. Examine all retrieved records by clicking on the number of the record. Look at the information under "Holdings" to see if ISU has the date you need.
4. Write down the Call Number and the shelving location (Microfilm).
5. Go to the Basement and find the Microfilm using the journal title and the call number.
6. Take the Microfilm back to the Microfilm Readers located near the student printers on the Main Floor.
7. Using the instructions next to the Readers, view the Microfilm and navigate to your article.
8. Print or save the article.

If you have a citation and you need the full-text of the article

1. Check to see if the ISU has an online subscription to your journal
2. If not, check to see if ScienceDirect contains full-text of your article
3. If not, check to see if the ISU Library has a print subscription to your journal
4. If not, order the article using the Interlibrary Loan service

To find out if we have electronic access to a journal, check the ISU Library's
E-journals/E-newspapers database of online journals.

1. Go to the ISU Library homepage at http://library.indstate.edu/
2. Click Electronic Resources.
3. Under Find e-journals, eBooks, and media by title or identifying number: and to the right of Title begins with, enter the title of the journal, NOT the title of the article. Click Search.
4. A list of results appears with your words in the title of the journal. Scroll the list for your journal. When you find it, click the database name which contains the appropriate year of your journal article. The database will open in a new window. Browse to the appropriate year and article.

Different databases will do this differently. Some take you directly to the article; some to the journal. One only opens the correct database and you have to search for the article you want.

1.    Search for your topic, as usual. Enter your term(s) and click Search.

SEARCH RESULTS

2.    You can obtain more information about an article immediately by clicking on its PREVIEW link, which will give you access to the article abstract and an actual outline of the article.

It is at this point in your search, where you will have to look very carefully at the color of the little page icon next to the item number. You will notice either a WHITE or a GREEN icon.

GREEN ICON: Articles featuring a green icon after the number are included in ISU’s regular subscription. Simply open the PDF, or mark one or more item numbers for email or export, as you normally do.

WHITE ICON: Articles with the white icon after the number are – for the most part – covered by our Transactional Access contract.  (There are exceptions in the box on the top left of this Web page.) Accessing these articles in incur additional costs to the Library, so we would ask you to carefully consider whether you absolutely need a copy of the article. We have set aside a specific amount of our collection development funds for this; therefore, there is a finite number of articles that we will be able to provide in this manner.

YES, I STILL WANT THIS ARTICLE!

4.    Clicking on the PDF link for an article with a GREEN ICON opens the full-text of the article.
       Clicking on the PDF link for an article with a WHITE ICON opens a page giving you the choice to “continue” or “cancel” your selection.

5. Clicking on “Continue” will open the full-text of the article in PDF.  This action will cost the Library about $30.00 from a finite fund to view the full-text; therefore, please do not view the article unless you really need it. 

To find a print journal subscription,

1. Go to the ISU Library homepage at http://library.indstate.edu/
2. Enter the journal title into the search box of the Library Catalog. Select "Fusion Catalog" and click Books & More Search.
3. Examine all retrieved records by clicking on the number of the record. Look at the information under "Holdings" to see if ISU has the date you need.
4. Write down the Call Number and the Location (Reference, ISU Gov Docs, Stacks, etc.).
5. In the ISU Library building, go to the shelving location and use the call number to find the correct journal.
6. Photocopy the article.

     Students taking all distance learning classes (and, therefore, are assumed to not have easy access to ISU's campus) during a semester can request that Interlibrary Loan send them physical materials owned by ISU's Cunningham Memorial Library. Some materials, such as DVDs and reference materials, do not qualify.

Interlibrary Loan (ILL)

If ISU does not have either an electronic subscription, ScienceDirect access, or a print subscription that includes your article, go to Interlibrary Loan (ILL).

1. Go to the ISU Library homepage at http://library.indstate.edu/
2. Click Services.
3. Click Interlibrary Loan.
   • (If you have never used ILL before, click Create an ILLiad Account).
   • (Scroll down and click First Time Users Click Here.)
   • (After you register, you will enter the Illiad system.)
4. If you have used ILL before, enter your ILL Username and Password.
5. Click Logon to Illiad.
6. Under the heading New Request, select Article.
7. Fill in the information and click Submit Request.

• You will receive an e-mail when your article arrives. It will tell you to log into your ILL Account. Then click Electronically Received Articles.