Natural Sciences: Articles

To view databases within a specific subject area:

Select your subject from the All Subjects drop-down menu on the left side of the page.

To view specific types of databases (for example, Ebooks, Encyclopedias/Dictionaries, or Videos):

Select the database type from the All Database Types drop-down menu in the middle.

To go to a specific database:

Type the database name in the Find Databases by Title box and hit Go, or click on the first letter of the database in the A-Z list.

1. Identify and develop your topic:

      --Find a topic that interests you

      --State your topic as a question
         (e.g. "What effect does the plastic debris have on the marine ecology?" )

      --Identify the main concepts and keywords
         "What effect does the plastic debris have on the marine ecology?"

2. Locate a background information on your topic using 
   Specialized/Subject-specific Encyclopedias and Online Encyclopedias 
 
       --Provide more extensive coverage of a topic than a General Encyclopedia.

       --Help you to get a better understanding of your topic and clarify your ideas

       --Supply the keywords that are commonly used in a discipline

       --Provide related articles in Bibliography (References)

3. Create a list including;

       --Search terms: relevant terms, synonyms, brooder & narrower terms, or 
         descriptive phrases that describe your topic

       --Call numbers you discovered for relevant books 

       --Subject Headings: browse LCSH online to look up broader terms, narrower 
         terms, variants, and related terms.
         (Enter keyword or phrase, select "LC Subject Headings," and then click "Search")
 
       --Names of experts and organizations

       --Titles of scholarly journals related to your topic

4. Select Resources considering;    

       --What are you going to research?

       --What are your information requirements?
         (Consider the type, quantity, and format)

       --What kind of assignment do you have to complete?

       --How much information do you need?

       --What types of publications do you want to read?
        (books, newspaper, journal, or consumer magazine articles, government
         documents, & primary sources)

       --What format do you need? (audio-Visual, print, electronic)

5. Search library’s HPU Discovery to locate:

       --Articles

       --Books & Ebooks 

       -- Reference Books

       -- VHS, DVD, & Streaming Videos


6. Browse your libraries’ shelves for the call number discovered in step 5.

7. Search library’s A-Z Databases to locate:

       --E-Books

       --Online Encyclopedias (Reference & Statistics)

       --Journal & Magazine (Consumer or Trade) Articles

       --Newspaper Articles

       --HPU Graduate Professional Papers
        (On Campus Access Only)

8. Search Tips

       --Do a trial search, using a few of the specific key terms for your topic.

       --Review the first few articles and focus on the subject terms used.

       --Revise your search using;

             *Boolean Operators [ AND, OR, NOT ] to combine 
              more than two search terms.

             *Quotation marks [ "  " ] for searching  phrases.

             * Wild card characters [ ? & * ]

       --Refine or narrow your search using limiters such as date range, article 
           type, full-text availability, etc.

       --Revise search again for more focus, if necessary 

9. Evaluate what you found: skim everything you locate to determine which resources may be the most useful.

10.Revise/refine your search as necessary: repeat steps 5 through 9 as necessary.


Source:
George, M. W., (2008). Strategy and Tools for Discovery.  The Elements of Library Research (pp. 67-69). New Jersey: Princeton University Press.

If you only have a citation of an article, try one of the options below to locate the full-text of the article. 

        1. Click the "Find It!" link, near a citation in an online database, if you're in the middle of
            searching the databases.

Example: Getting the Full Text in EBSCO Databases

2. Go to the Libraries homepage, search for an article title in our Library catalog, HPU Discovery. https://www.hpu.edu/libraries/index.html
    
3. Go to the Libraries homepage, click on Periodicals and type a title of journal or title of article into the search box.

Example:
Journal Title: Food Microbiology    21 (2004), pp. 535–541

Article Title: Bacteriological quality and safety of raw milk in Malaysia
(Note: you would also need to input at least one more information on the article such as author(s), Journal/publication title, ISSN, etc.)
 

4. Go to the Libraries homepage, click on Databases and then click on the letter G for "Google Scholar at HPU".  From there, enter a title of article, author(s) or DOI name into the search box.

Example:

Article title: Bacteriological quality and safety of raw milk in Malaysia

Author(s): Fook Yee Chye, Aminah Abdullah, Mohd Khan Ayob

DOI: 10.1016/j.fm.2003.11.007
 

5. Go back to the A-Z Databases, click on the letter C and scroll all the way down, and then click on Crossref Metadata Search. From there, enter or paste a DOI name/ a title of an article into the text box provided.

Example:

Article title: Bacteriological quality and safety of raw milk in Malaysia

DOI: 10.1016/j.fm.2003.11.007

If any of the options above don't work, then request articles via Interlibrary Loan (ILL) and Document Delivery Services for the HPU Libraries (Use the Journal Article Online Request Form)