BIO-1201 / BIO-1301: Science Research

Track Down a Known Study

When You Have a Citation

Identify the journal title (not the article title). On the library website, use the Search drop-down menu and select Publication Finder. Search for the journal title.

This takes you to the Publication Finder Search screen, and shows any entries that match your search terms. In this case, the journal we searched for is the first result. Click the title to show any full text access options. The journal titled Microbiome is available through the ProQuest Central database, PubMed Central, and Nexis Uni for the various dates shown. If the date in your citation fits within the dates available, you can click one of the links and search for your article title, or locate it by finding the issue that matches that volume number, issue number, and date shown in your citation.

When You Have a DOI

DOI stands for Digital Object Identifier. Most peer-reviewed journal articles will have one.

If it shows as a clickable link [e.g., https://doi.org/10.1109/5.771073], follow it to the article page on the journal publisher's website.
If it is not a clickable link [e.g., DOI:10.1038/446937a], copy and paste the DOI number into https://dx.doi.org/, a DOI resolver that will get you to the article page on the publisher's site.

If the article is available open access, you will be able to open the full text (the full version of the article).
If it is not open access, you will reach a paywall, where the site indicates that you cannot access the full article without paying for it. In that second scenario, follow the instructions for "If You Have a Citation" above, to check if the library has subscription access to that article.

When You Don't Have All the Information

Let's say that you've recently heard of an intriguing new scientific study. Some of the findings may have been discussed on a morning news segment, in a news or magazine article, on a blog that you follow, or maybe you saw it on a social media feed. It is quite likely that your initial source does not provide you a direct link to the original scientific study, or even a complete citation. But you probably know some pieces - the authors' names, probably, and the name of the journal in which the study was published. If you're lucky, maybe you have the actual title of the scientists' paper.

Using the main search box on the library website, type the pieces you do know into the Cyclone Search box. There is a good chance that this will lead you to the study, or at least to the complete citation information about the study. Click the title to see if there are full text options available. If not, try Google Scholar. This may lead you to other possibilities for full text. If not, you can request the article via Interlibrary Loan.