How to Access the Full Text of an Article
"Get it at UC" Button
Most databases provide a description of articles and other resources to help you find what you need by searching through the indexed literature within their website. Included as part of the item record is the “Get it at UC” button. Clicking this button will direct you to a copy of the full text of the article.
Interlibrary Loan Request
If we do not own a journal or book, you can submit an interlibrary loan (ILL) request to have the book or article (e)mailed to you for free from another UC library. Learn more about how to request books or articles.
Find Articles via Subject Databases
How to Choose a Database
In deciding which database(s) to use, it is helpful to note:
- Who: Who is authoring these publications? Are these scholarly, popular, or industry sources?
- What: What can I find in the database? (e.g. articles, conference proceedings, data)
- When: When does coverage begin? How well is historical literature covered? Does it include articles published in the last year?
- Where: What is the geographical scope of the coverage? Does that match your research interest?
Using Research Guides is a helpful way to find which databases will best suit your research needs.
Recommended Multidisciplinary Databases:
- Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new windowAcademic Search Complete is a multidisciplinary database broadly covering newspapers, magazines and journals in the arts, humanities, social sciences, sciences and technology.
[Coverage: 1887-present] - JSTOR This link opens in a new window
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Archive of scholarly journals and ebooks in over 50 disciplines spanning the arts, humanities, social sciences and the sciences. For journals, coverage begins with volume one of each title and continues to within 3 to 5 years of the most current issue, with some up-to-date dependent on the title. JSTOR is a not-for-profit organization established with the assistance of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. - Web of Science Core Collection This link opens in a new windowWeb of Science Core Collection enables searching of top-cited peer-reviewed content across the sciences, social sciences, and humanities with "cited reference" search capabilities. "It is a curated collection of over 20,000 peer-reviewed, high-quality scholarly journals published worldwide (including Open Access journals) in over 250 science, social sciences, and humanities disciplines. Conference proceedings and book data are also available." There is also access to Journal Citation Reports which provide impact metrics like the Journal Impact Factor (JIF) and Eigenfactor Scoring. Web of Science also has article, author and institutional citation indices. Includes EndNote Basic online citation management tool.
[Coverage: 1900-present] - Scopus This link opens in a new window
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Large interdisciplinary abstract and citation database to academic journal literature, conference proceedings and books with broad coverage across the sciences and social sciences, includes citation tracking tools (Citescore).
[Coverage: full coverage from 1996-present, with selected coverage as far back as 1823] - JSTOR Global Plants This link opens in a new windowCollection of more than 2 million digitized plant type specimens from herbaria around the world (https://plants.jstor.org/partners), including at UC Davis. Also contains photographs, artwork and links to taxonomic literature. Search or browse by resource type, geography, collection or herbarium.
Identify Peer-Reviewed Articles
A peer-reviewed source is an article that has been reviewed by several other experts in the field before being published in order to ensure its quality. This 2 minute video describes the peer review process.
How do I Know if an Article is Peer-Reviewed?
Look for limits/filters
Many databases allow you to specify that you want to search only in “peer-reviewed” or “refereed” sources.
Visit the journal’s webpage
Search online for your journal’s title. Sections like “about this journal” or “editorial policies” generally mention whether the journal is peer-reviewed/refereed.
Check a directory
Use the Ulrich’s Periodicals Directory to find key information about a journal, including whether it has a peer-review process.