Library Lab - Finding Sources

Once you have found the correct primary source, you often have to take one more step to access the full text of the article.

❗ Remember, the BYU library provides free access to many scientific articles. Make sure you use your netID and password to log in to the library website to be more likely to gain free access.

To get the full article text you can usually click on a button near the top of the page that says “download PDF,” “View PDF” or “full article.”

❗If you have logged into your BYU account and still don’t have access to the full text, try searching for the article, using its title, in Google Scholar. Make sure you follow the steps in the below article to be able to gain access to the article through the BYU Library.

In order to find the study, you should have at least some of the following information:

• Name of article
• Name of authors
• Name of journal
• Name of institution
• Publication date of the primary source
• Publication date of the news article (the primary source publication date is usually a little before this date)
• Publication URL
• Subject Keywords

For example, the popular news article below provides its own publication date and the name of the journal the academic article was published in. It also indicates that the original study was published the same week as the popular article.

If you don’t have enough information it will be hard to locate the correct primary source. If you are unable to find the popular news article after searching a database a few times you will want to select a different popular news article.

When searching for a scholarly article we suggest you use Google Scholar. Google Scholar is a web search engine that allows you to search for a wide range of academic articles. Through the BYU Library, you have free access to many of the articles that you can find using Google Scholar. To access articles for free follow the instructions in the following slides.

Google Scholar is not that difficult to use. Here are two examples, that will help understand how to best use Google Scholar.

Example 1

Let’s say you were given:

• The Name of the article: The Artificial Sweetener Erythritol and Cardiovascular Event Risk

It should be easy to find the article with this given information. Complete the following steps to easily obtain access to the article.

1. Enter the title into the search bar on Google Scholar and hit the search icon.

2. On the next page, click on the words “Get It! @BYU” for full access to the article.

Example 2

Now, instead, let’s say you don’t have the title, but were given the following information:

• Publication date of Popular News Article: March 2nd, 2023
• The original study was published that same week.
• Name of Journal: Nature Medicine
• Keyword: erythritol

Complete the following steps to obtain access to the article.

1. Access the advanced search option by opening the menu on the left-hand side of the page and clicking on “Advanced search.”

2. Fill out the related fields to form a specific search.

3. Click on the search icon in the top right-hand corner and you will then have a page of academic article results. Click on the words “Get It! @BYU” for full access to the article.

Once you have found the correct primary source, you often have to take one more step to access the full text of the article.

❗ Remember the BYU library provides free access to many scientific articles. Make sure you have used your netID and password to log in to the library website to be more likely to gain free access.

To get the full article text you can usually click on a button near the top of the page that says “download PDF,” “View PDF” or “full article.”