Finding Full-Text of Articles
You want the full text of articles, right? There are several ways to find them.
- Use the Get it! Cornell links wherever you see them!
- If you have citations for specific articles: check the Library Catalog to see if we subscribe to the journals that contain the articles. The Catalog will show whether or not we have access to the electronic version and/or the print version.
- If we don't have it, we can get it for you for free in a few days! Request materials through Borrow Direct or Interlibrary Loan by clicking the Request Item button
Reference librarians are here to help you - so please contact us with any questions!
Off-Campus Access to Full-Text
If you're off-campus and want access to full-text, just go through the Library website. You can log in with your netID and password to gain access to our licensed resources.
For anytime, anywhere access from your broswer, download the Passkey toolbar from CUL Labs.
Not Sure Which Database To Use?
The best way to do a comprehensive search for scholarly articles in your area is to find a database in that subject. If you're not sure where to start to find a database that covers your subject area or the type of information you need, start with the library's research guides or ask a librarian!
Searching Databases
Go to a database that covers the subject (in this case, science) like Web of Knowledge.
In most of these databases you can do a search for your topic in basic or advanced search by keyword to find articles, using AND, OR, or NOT to connect your terms and concepts.
- Write out your topic in a sentence or phrase (make sure you're topic is specific enough)
- Break it into the important concepts
- Be sure to think of as many synonyms or alternate terms as you can (including scientific names)
- Connect your concepts with AND and your similar terms with OR (use not to exclude common meanings you don't want)
Most databases let you use a symbol (*) to indicate words that begin with certain letters and have any ending. Therefore, peanut* will get you peanut or peanuts. Check the Search Tips or Help to find out what the symbol (usually called a truncation or wildcard symbol) is called in your database.
In a lot of databases, if you look at the full record for the article (or the limiting options) you'll also find the subject headings or descriptors that the datbases uses to classify any articles specifically about that topic and you can use these to re-search by subject to narrow your search.
You can then limit your results by lanuaguage, subject, publication year, type of material (like only peer-reviewed articles) or other criteria (review articles).
Top Databases
Here are the top, mostly scholarly, databases in the life and environmental sciences area. What's the difference between popular and scholarly?
- Web of KnowledgeISI Web of knowledge is an integrated platform supporting research in academic, corporate, government, and not for profit organizations. ISI citation databases are multidisciplinary databases of bibliographic information indexed to be searched by...
- ScopusScopus is the largest abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed literature: scientific journals, books and conference proceedings. Delivers a comprehensive overview of the world's research output in the fields of science, technology, medicine, social sciences, and arts and humanities.
- BIOSIS PreviewsIssued as a part of the ISI Web of Knowledge, the database covers original research reports and reviews in biological and biomedical areas. Coverage includes traditional areas of biology such as botany, zoology, and microbiology, as well as related fields such as biomedical, agriculture, pharmacology, and ecology. Also included are interdisciplinary fields such as medicine, biochemistry, biophysics, bioengineering, and biotechnology. The database covers content summaries, books, meeting abstracts, papers, and posters. BIOSIS also combines the content from Biological Abstracts and Biological Abstracts/RRM.
- Environment IndexFormerly known as Environmental issues & policy index, Environmental Policy Index, and Environmental Knowledgebase Online. The Environment Index provides researchers with abstracts and indexing for over 1,000 titles covering environmental policy and studies. Updated monthly, with ongoing coverage for over 500 of those titles, the database contains citations for articles published since 1973. The database offers deep coverage of applicable areas of agriculture, ecosystem ecology, energy, environmental law, geography, marine and freshwater resources, public policy, social impacts, urban planning, and more. Additionally, an Environment Thesaurus and publication index are available for more precise, advanced searching.
- AGRISAGRIS is the international information system for the agricultural sciences and technology. It was created by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in 1974, to facilitate information exchange and to bring together world literature dealing with all aspects of agriculture. AGRIS is a cooperative system in which over 135 participating countries input references to the literature produced within their boundaries and, in return, draw on the information provided by the other participants. AGRIS provides access to citations and abstracts dealing with agricultural science and technology worldwide. Topics covered include forestry, animal husbandry, aquatic science and fisheries, and human nutrition. AGRIS indexes articles, unpublished scientific and technical reports, theses, conference papers, and government publications dated 1975 to the present. Site also available in Arabic, Chinese, French, and Spanish.
- Wildlife & Ecology studies WorldwideIndex to scientific and management literature on wild mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians from journals, conference proceedings, theses, dissertations and other publications. Major topic areas include studies of individual species, habitat types, hunting, economics, wildlife behavior, management techniques, diseases, ecotourism, zoology, and taxonomy.
- Zoological RecordBibliographical references from more than 6,000 international journals, review annuals, monographs, meeting proceedings, books and reports, representing research in all major areas of zoology, including: behavior, ecology, evolution, genetics, habitat, nutrition, parasitology, reproduction, taxonomy, zoogeography.
- Water Resources AbstractsWater resources abstracts (WRA) is prepared from materials collected by over 50 water research centers and institutes in the United States. Includes water resource economics, ground and surface water hydrology, metropolitan water resources planning...
- USDA Economics Statistics and Marketing Information ServiceRun by Mann Library. Ask a librarian for help!
- USDA Agricultural Marketing ServiceMarket news services for five commodity programs – dairy, fruit and vegetables, Livestock and seed, Poultry, Cotton and Tobacco.
Other Useful Science Databases
Here are other, chiefly scholarly, databases that may include useful articles on biology, medicine and agriculture.
- MEDLINEAccess to the MEDLINE database is available through Web of Science. Compiled by the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM), MEDLINE is the world's most comprehensive source of life sciences and biomedical bibliographic information. It contains nearly eleven million records from over 7,300 different publications from 1965 to present.
- ScienceDirectOnline service for scientific research that contains the full text of Elsevier Science journals in the life, physical, medical, technical, and social sciences. Also includes Academic IDEAL titles as of 2003.
- BioMed CentralBioMed Central Ltd., an independent publisher in London, England, provides free access to biomedical research publications. These publications include biology and medicine journal articles, current reports, and meeting abstracts. BioMed Central offers information about current controlled trials, as well as topics in modern biology.
- AGRICOLAProduced by the National Agricultural Library, AGRICOLA (AGRICultural OnLine Access) contains bibliographic records of materials acquired by the National Agricultural Library and cooperating institutions in agricultural and related sciences. Records come from the NAL Online Public Access Catalog and NAL's Article Citation Database. The catalog provides citations to books, serials, pamphlets, government documents, research reports, FAO and USDA publications, conference proceedings, and translations, patents, audiovisuals and technical reports. The article database provides citations to journal articles, book chapters, reports and reprints. Coverage includes: agricultural administration, laws and regulations, economics, education, training and extension, engineering and products; animal science; aquatic sciences; chemistry; energy as related to agriculture; entomology; feed science; food science and food products; forestry; general agriculture; geography, meteriology, climatology and history; home economics and human ecology; human nutrition; institutional food service; life sciences; natural resources management and environmental pollution; pesticides; plant diseases; plant science and production; rural sociology; soil science; veterinary medicine. Coverage from 1970 to the present.
Other Useful Databases in Education and the Social Sciences
Here are the top databases in this subject area:
- Web of ScienceChoosing "All Databases" allows you to search an index of journal articles, conference proceedings, data sets, and other resources in the sciences, social sciences, arts, and humanities.
- ABI/InformABI/Inform, an extensive international business and management database, contains bibliographic citations, abstracts, and full text of articles appearing in professional publications, academic journals, and trade magazines published worldwide. ABI/Inform covers the areas of accounting, banking, computers, economics, engineering management, communications, finance, health care, human resources, insurance, international trends, law, management, marketing, public administration, real estate, taxation, transportation.
- Sociological AbstractsAbstracts and indexes the international literature in sociology and related disciplines in the social and behavioral sciences. Provides citations from 1963 to the present, and abstracts since 1974, to journal articles, conference papers, books, and dissertations. Subjects covered include community development, culture and social structure, demography and human biology, environmental interactions, family and social welfare, health and medicine and law, religion and science, social psychology and group interactions, welfare services, and women's studies.
- Academic Search PremierThis multi-disciplinary database provides full text for more than 8,500 journals, including full text for more than 4,600 peer-reviewed titles. PDF backfiles to 1975 or further are available for well over one hundred journals, and searchable cited references are provided for more than 1,000 titles.
- ProQuest Research LibraryProQuest Research Library, formerly known as Periodical Abstracts, is a comprehensive database available through the ProQuest online system. It indexes and abstracts general interest magazines and scholarly journals in the social sciences, humanities and sciences. It comprises two components: a core list of periodicals covering about 800 publications, and 15 subject-specific modules that supplement the core list. Modules cover arts, business, children, education, general interest, health, humanities, international studies, law, military, multicultural studies, psychology, sciences, social sciences, and women's interests. Full text of many articles is provided.
- JSTORJSTOR is a fully-searchable database containing the back issues of several hundred scholarly journals in the humanities, social sciences, mathematics, music, ecology and botany, business, and other fields. It includes the following collections: Arts & sciences I, II and III, General science, Ecology and botany, Business, Language and literature.