LibGuides: Anthropology: How to Find Articles

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Accessing Databases

The best way to find journal articles on a topic is to use the Library's databases. The library databases are only available to Santa Fe students and employees. To access the databases, click the Databases link on the Library's homepage or at the top of this guide. When you do this, you'll be prompted to log in.

If you need assistance logging in, please call the Reference Desk at 352-395-5409. The databases can also be accessed via eSantaFe.

The next section presents a tutorial on the process of locating and accessing the Library's databases.

What Are Library Databases?

When researching your paper, you will want to include scholarly (academic) sources. These types of sources are more credible and reliable, and support your points better than more popular or general sources. Journal articles allow you to find more narrow aspects of a topic, whereas books usually give you broad overviews.

Aren't All Articles on Google?

You may be tempted to use a search engine such as Google to find journal articles. After all, it's easy, and Google has everything, right? While Google does a good job searching regular websites and webpages, it can't access most journal articles, and doesn't have a way to easily limit your search to peer-reviewed journals. Even if you do find articles, you usually will be asked to pay to read the full text.

The Library has a much easier way for you to find free, full-text journal articles: library databases.

Databases are online resources accessed through the library website. They are subscription services, and the Library pays for their students and faculty to have access to these databases. Most databases are article databases. When you search something in these databases, you are searching through millions of articles, found in thousands of journals, magazines, and newspapers. Each database has a different set of journals they search through.

No two databases are exactly alike. Some databases only search journals in a certain subject field or discipline (subject-specific databases), while others are more general, searching through lots of articles from many different subjects. Some databases branch out past articles and provide other types of resources. Credo Reference, for instance, allows you to search a collection of reference books, and Mango Languages provides access to interactive lessons to learn more than 70 world languages.

Recommended Databases

Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window
A full-text database covering many different disciplines and subject areas. A great place to start research on any topic.
Tutorial This link opens in a new window | How to Cite This link opens in a new window
JSTOR This link opens in a new window
Provides access to full-text, academic journals in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences, including African-American studies, anthropology, education, mathematics, history, and more. Also includes an image search This link opens in a new window.
Tutorial This link opens in a new window | How to Cite This link opens in a new window

Google Scholar

Google Scholar allows you to search for scholarly articles that have been indexed by Google. While many will not be available full text, there are quite a few open-access articles, and you may also set up Google Scholar to connect you to the library databases.

To set up Google Scholar:

Click Settings at the top (the gear icon); this may be under the More menu on the left.
Click Library links in the left menu.
Search for Santa Fe College - Find it @ Santa Fe, add a checkmark, and save it.

Articles with a Find it @ Santa Fe link in the right column have the full text available in one of the library's databases:

Google Scholar from Lawrence W. Tyree Library on Vimeo.

Hello! This video tutorial will demonstrate how to use Google Scholar and how to link database holdings.

Google Scholar is a subset of Google that allows you to search for scholarly information, including articles, scholarly books, and other types of publications. Not everything indexed in Google Scholar has the full text available. However, you can increase your full-text results by adding Santa Fe College as your library. To access Google Scholar, go to scholar.google.com.

At the top left of the page, click the icon with three horizontal lines, and then choose Settings.

On the next screen, click Library links.

On the Library links page, type Santa Fe College in the search box, and press the Enter key. In the resulting list, select Santa Fe College – Find it @ Santa Fe, and then click Save.

Saving your settings takes you back to the Google Scholar search screen. Enter your search in the box provided.

The results list displays matching articles and more. If you see a Find it @ Santa Fe link to the right of an article, the Tyree Library has access to that article. Click the Find it @ Santa Fe link.

Once you click the link, you may be prompted to sign using your Office 365 account. You might not see this screen if you are logged in elsewhere to Canvas or your Office 365 email.

You may be taken directly to the full text of the article or to an intermediary page. On this page, look at the View Online section to see the full text links.

Article options will vary, depending on the database it is part of. All articles should provide the full text.

Articles with other links in the far-right column are freely available online. As with any link to a file found online, be cautious. If you do not recognize the source of the link, you probably should not click it. Instead, contact a librarian for assistance.

If an article does not have a link in the right column, the full text is not currently available. To request a full-text copy of the article, click the double arrows icon.

Next, click the Request it link.

If you are not already signed in, click the Sign in link.

Choose Office 365 and log in with your Office 365 account.

Now you will see the option for an interlibrary loan request. This is the process of requesting that the Library obtain an item for you, which is free.

Fill out your information in the top part of the form. The bottom half should already be filled in with the article information, but you should double check before you submit. Articles are usually available within a week.

This concludes the video tutorial on using Google Scholar. If you have any questions, please contact a librarian:

352-395-5409
reference@sfcollege.edu
Building Y, NW Campus
sfcollege.edu/library