Learn to Find, Access, and Manage Information

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Find an article when you have a citation

Play Button Click the play button to watch a short video on finding articles from a citation.

    1. Click the Play Button button located on the Libraries Web site.
    2. Type the citation information (journal name, date, volume, issue, start page)in the fields.
    3. Press enter to search.
    4. The “full text” of your article may be available digitally online or physically in a library:
      1. Get Full Text Online – If this link appears, click it to go to the full text of your article in one of the library's online article databases.
      2. Look for Print and Other Formats – If there is no online version, or you prefer print, click this link to find a print copy of the journal in a UW-Madison library. Be sure to write down the location and call number so you can find it later.

Request A Copy: If an article is not available online, you can use the Request a Copy link in the More Options section of your FindIt results to have a copy found and e-mailed to you for free. This works for any article, even ones that the libraries have in print on campus. Interlibrary Loan takes between one and three days on average. Click to learn more about Interlibrary Loan.

<< Return to research steps

citation
Information needed to clearly identify an item. For a book, this includes the author, title, place of publication, publisher, and year. For an article, this includes, the author, title of article, title of source, volume number, pages, and date.
Journal
A publication that contains articles written for scholars by researchers or experts in a subject area.
Full text
Indicates that the entire text of an item is available electronically.
Database
A collection of records that can be searched by computer. In libraries, it usually means online indexes of journal articles. (Bates College)
Interlibrary Loan
The UW-Madison's document delivery and interlibrary loan service.

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