Locating Articles
Basic process for finding articles
If you find an article that looks interesting check to see if there is a link to the pdf or HTML version of the article by the citation. If not, then click the "Get It!" button to see if we have access to it either electronically or in print.
Requesting articles we do not own
If we have neither print nor electronic access to an article in our collection, then you can place an order for it through ILLIAD.
You will have to set up account the first time you order an article but once you have done this once you can use this same account each time you want an article.
Once you have an account set up then you can just click the "ILLIAD" link in the "Get it!" button and log into your account and the request form will be automatically populated with the citation information for your desired article so you only need to submit the request.
(If you do not have a journal citation, but instead have a topic, use one of our databases to locate citations).
Types of Articles
Review articles
Review articles provide an analysis of the research that has been published on a particular topic. These will usually be quite narrowly focused and can provide an excellent overview of the methods and findings of research studies done up to that point.
Most databases that contain primary research literature will also contain review articles. In order to limit your search to these type of articles, look to see if there is an option to limit by article type or methodology. Click here to view our tutorial on choosing search terms.
For example:
- In PsycINFO, you can limit the "Methodology" to "Literature review"
- In PubMed you can limit the "Type of Article" to "Review"
Annual Reviews is a series of annual publications done for multiple disciplines in the sciences and social sciences. You can either search across all of the disciplines, or search within the Neuroscience series.
Primary research articles
Primary research articles are written by the researchers themselves and serve to formally document the findings of a particular study. Typically, these will begin with a literature review and followed by a methods section, a results section and then end with discussion section where the implications of the findings are discussed.
Why Use Journals?
• Journals are often peer-reviewed/scholarly. This means the research in the articles have been double-checked for validity.
• Primary research often appears in journal articles. Primary research is the first article or report on a topic whereas secondary research are the articles or reports that talk about that primary article. Always look back to the primary article when using secondary sources as support.
• Journals can contain the most recent information on a topic. In the sciences this can be very important.
Neuroscience Journals in our Collection
Subject Guide
Journals List
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This box searches journal and newspaper titles only. Use JumpStart to search for specific articles.