BioG 1500: Finding Primary Literature: Step 3: Get the Article

If you're not in a database and just have a citation for an article and you want to see if you have access through the Cornell University Library, there are a number of ways you can check:

• Library Catalog search for journal title (DEFINITIVE way to see if we have access to the journal in print or online and for what years).

• Articles & Full Text search for article title (link under the main search box; finds most articles). 

• Main library website search for article title (finds most articles except for newspaper articles)

• Google Scholar or Google search for article title (usually fine on campus; off-campus try it with Passkey)

• Ejournal search for journal title (only finds online journals)

The Get it! Cornell button will try to take you directly to the article but sometimes that doesn't work. When that happens you might see a few options:

• Link to full-text in other databases (if links to full-text don't appear, the library may still have the article).
• Links to search for journal title by title or ISSN (a special identifying number unique to each journal) in the library catalog
• Link to interlibrary loan (which allows you to get material that's not at Cornell for free)

From the Library Catalog

If you were unsuccessful in locating the article when you click on Get it! Cornell (or if it's not available), check the library catalog for the journal title (not for the article title). Not sure which is which? See below.

OPTIONAL Handy Hint: Remember to check what years and volumes the library has as well as any notes in the catalog record for each journal title you're looking for. Current issues for some periodicals are located in the Current Periodicals Area of Mann Library and not in the regular stacks. The collection also might be lacking the time period that you require.

Once you have successfully found the full text for your article, be sure to print it out or save it as a pdf so you can refer back to it when writing up your research.

What if Cornell doesn't have access to the article?

If the Cornell Library does not subscribe to a journal (or if there's any other material that Cornell doesn't have), you can request the article through Interlibrary Loan for FREE and have it e-mailed to you within a week or less.The Get it! Cornell button will try to take you directly to the article but sometimes that doesn't work. When that happens you might see a few options:

From within the database or through Get it! Cornell

Now that you have found several citations, it's time to find the full-text of the articles. Unfortunately, some students assume reading the abstract (brief article description) is sufficient. To be a successful researcher, you need to be able to find the complete article text for the most relevant papers. In addition to providing more information, a complete primary literature paper usually has the five sections used in scientific writing and will help you learn what information needs to go in each section.

Sometimes there's a link to the full-text of the article in the database; in Web of Science it's a Full Text from Publisher link. If so, look on the linked page for the html or pdf download icon or link so you can download the entire article.

But many databases aren't like the Web, where the article might be immediately available. Some are more like signposts which point the way and give you the information you need to find it. Also, although Cornell Library subscribes to thousands of titles, not all of the journals in our databases are at Cornell. However, you can usually still get the article even if you don't see a link to full-text right in the database! Check immediately whether Cornell has a journal by clicking on the Get it! Cornell link.

Not sure which is the article title and which is the journal journal title? See how to read citations of books, chapters or articles in edited books, and journal articles.

Article: Sahana, G., Gulbradtsen, B., Thomsen, B., Lund, M.S. (2013). Confirmation and fine-mapping of clinical mastitis and somatic cell score QTL in Nordic Holstein cattle. Animal Genetics, 44(6), 620-626.

Book: Redei, G. (2008). Encyclopedia of genetics, genomics, proteomics, and informatics. Netherlands: Springer.