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Agriculture

Getting Started

Journals, magazines and newspapers are an excellent source of current information.

Newspapers and magazines:

Articles are written by individuals or reporters who may or may not be experts in the field of the article. The information is general in nature and the articles may contain incorrect information.

Peer-reviewed (refereed or scholarly) journals:

Articles are written by experts and are reviewed by several other experts in the field before the article is published in peer-reviewed (refereed or scholarly) journals. The review includes evaluating the content, methodology, results and conclusions.

Thousands of articles on all kinds of topics are stored in article databases. An article database is a collection of information stored in an electronic format that can be searched. Most articles are immediately available for you to read, or to print/save/email for later use.

To find articles:

• Select an appropriate database from the recommended databases below. 

• Type your topic in the Search Box and limit your search to "full-text" to find articles that you can read or print immediately. You can also limit your search results to "peer-reviewed" and/or scholarly articles.

Recommended Databases

Making Your Search More Specific to Your Topic

Making your search more specific to your topic (Refining your search results):

• Combining or excluding keywords or terms in a search will give you more focused and productive results by eliminating inappropriate "hits". The tools you use to refine your search are called Boolean Operators.

The table below illustrates the usage of Boolean operators:

• It is advisable to use quotation marks (" ") when searching for a phrase (e.g. "downer cow syndrome"). The exact phrase will be searched, not each individual word. Searching the exact phrase reduces the number of irrelevant "hits" and gives you more relevant results.

AND OR NOT AND NOT
Each search result contains all the search terms. Each search result contains at least one of the search terms. Search results do not contain the specified term(s) in the results. Search results will include a specified term but will exclude another specified term.
Using AND narrows your search. Using OR expands your search Using NOT makes your search more specific.  
bloat AND cattle "downer cow syndrome" OR "bovine secondary recumbency" "downer cow syndrome" NOT mastitis

cattle AND "downer cow syndrome" NOT housing

 

 

Sample search from Veterinary Source:

 Choose PDF article format over HTML format. For scholarly/peer-reviewed journal articles, format is important. PDF format preserves the scanned image of the original document, (fonts, graphics, tables, pagination, etc), making it ideal format for science research and for meeting legal requirements. HTML documents are re-formatted documents for quick printing. The documents are generally plain-text. Graphics, charts and tables are omitted.

Using Database Help

Need more help? Check out the wealth of information in the help links below. Use the help feature found in each and every database to guide your search.

Other Databases of Interest

Requesting Articles Not Available Full Text in Databases

• Some articles listed in the search results may not be available in full-text for you to read and/or print (some only show an abstract or references of an article). They may be available in the print journals and magazines in the library. Ask Library staff for help to find out if the journal or magazine you need is available in print in the library. Contact the Library if you are off-campus or if you are an online student.

• If the article(s) you find in a database are not available in full-text and the Library does not have print, you can request the articles through our FREE Interlibrary Loan Services:

  • While in the database search results list, click the​ link and log into the interlibrary loan form using your Library Barcode and PIN (If you are an online student, your library barcode & PIN will have been emailed to you). Contact the library if you need assistance.
  • Although much of the information required will automatically populate the interlibrary loan form when accessed through a database, remember to check carefully and complete the form as much as possible before submitting.
  • To request articles that aren't listed in a database complete and submit an interlibrary loan form found here.

NOTE: You will be provided with a link to the article you have requested. It takes 2-24 hours for the article requested to be processed. If there is a delay, you will receive an email advising you about the delay. Occasionally, due to licensing restrictions, an electronic copy of the article cannot be supplied. Instead, a print copy will be sent to the library for pickup.