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Getting from Citation to Full Text

For help deciphering citations and finding the documents that they reference

Finding the full text of an article

  1. From the Libraries homepage, click the little magnifying glass icon in the upper right and then click "Peer-reviewed articles, etc.". On that page, try copying and pasting the title of the article into the search box, putting the title in quotation marks for improved accuracy of searching. This system finds many though unfortunately not all of the articles that the UNT Libraries has access to. If the title is short and uses common words, this technique alone might not work, so you should also include the last names of the author(s).
  2. Next, try searching for the title in Google Scholar—again with just the title or possibly also the names of the author(s). If you are working off campus, be sure to configure "library links" (see instructions). Note that Google Scholar includes not just links to full text of the final published versions but also earlier drafts of articles in cases where the author makes them available. These likely lack the final pagination or other details that you might need in order to find an exact point referenced in a citation.
  3. If neither of these options takes you to the full text, look up the title of the journal (not the title of the article!) to see if the UNT Libraries has access:
    1. If you are not using a mobile device, try the following instructions; otherwise skip this step: First check the list of online journals available on the Libraries website: from the Libraries homepage, in the blue "Start Your Research" box, click "e-Journals" and then search for the title of the journal. This is the most current source of information about journals that are available electronically, but it does not include those available only in print.
    2. Next check in the UNT library catalog: from the Libraries homepage, click the little magnifying glass icon in the upper right and click "E-journals". From here you can search for the title of the journal. If you find the journal, you may be presented with options to access the journal online through one or more platforms and/or to find a print version of the journal in the physical collections of the Libraries. Once you reach the journal, you will need to find your specific article, perhaps by locating the volume and issue in which it's located.
  4. If all else fails, request the article through document delivery.

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