The University of Adelaide Library

Library tutorial for agricultural, animal & veterinary sciences

Section 3. Searching for known books and journals

Part 2 - Searching for a known journal title

Journals (also called magazines, periodicals, serials) and newspapers can be searched in this option.
When you know the journal title, volume and pages of a journal article, you can find it in the Library catalogue. (If you don't know these details, you need to search your topic in a database first. See Section 7 of this tutorial). You cannot search the Library catalogue to find journal articles on a topic.

The Library sometimes has printed journals shelved in its collections, sometimes we get electronic journals which you reach through Web links and sometimes we get both. You can search both print and electronic journals in the Library catalogue's Journal title option. For print journals, the catalogue gives the location and call number in the Library collections. For electronic journals, the catalogue gives a link directly to the journal.

For example, if you have the citation:

Drouillard, J.S., Kuhl, G.L. (1999) Effects of previous grazing nutrition and management on feedlot performance of cattle, Journal of animal science, 77 (Supl.2), pp. 136-146

you need to search for the journal title: Journal of animal science.

journal search screen

Search hints

At by: select Journal or Newspaper Title
At Search for: enter the journal title.
type the first words of the journal title: journal of animal science
leave out initial articles like The, A, An, and foreign language equivalents
enter just enough of the first words of the journal title to distinguish it from other titles
use upper or lower case (doesn't matter which)
try alternative spellings or punctuation: behavior could be spelled behaviour; yearbook could also be spelled as year book; a title which contains an ampersand '&' instead of 'and' needs to be searched with an &
if an article is on a Department's reading list, the Library may have linked to an electronic copy; you will then, and only then, find it by searching for the article title.

Results

A list of results is displayed. Often there is a record for the print version and a record for the electronic version, if available. You should display the full record of each version to find the location of the volume/year that you want. Sometimes the volume/year that you want may be only available in print, or it may be available in both print and online versions.
If the volume/year that you want is only available in print, note the call number of the journal and in which Library the journal is held, then you can go to the shelves and retrieve the volume which contains the journal article you are seeking.
If the volume/year is available electronically, you can click on the Link to e-resource and you will be taken directly to the journal article. There may be multiple links present for one electronic journal - each link will go to a different source, and may include different years - be sure to select the correct link for the issue/volume/year that you want.

Back to tutorial main page | Continue to Section 4: Getting a topic overview