Journals (also known as serials, periodicals and magazines) are published regularly (weekly, monthly, quarterly or annually) and contain the most recent information on a subject.
Every journal is made up of several elements. Each publication year has a volume number and within every volume, there are multiple parts/issues - how many will depend on how frequently it is published. Each part/issue contains a number of individual articles.
Journal references are broken down as follows:
If the Library holds a journal in print format, the complete year's issues may subsequently be bound together within hardback covers. If not, the loose issues will be stored (in issue number order) in a pamphlet box on the Journals shelves.
Online journals are accessed via Library databases (to search for articles) or the Electronic Journals link (to search for specific journal).
We have many, many thousands of electronic journals in our online collections. If you already have a journal reference or want to know whether we take a particular journal and which source supplies it, you should use the Electronic Journals link and search by the name of the journal.
Take a look a the short video below. Although the topic illustrated may not be relevant to your exact programme of study, the search principles are exactly the same.
Print Journals
The Library has a small print collection of journals which cannot be borrowed but articles from them can be photocopied in accordance with Copyright law.
You can locate these print titles in the Library catalogue by searching for the journal name. A complete year's journal issues may be bound together within hardback covers. Alternatively, the individual parts/issues will be stored (in issue number order) in a pamphlet box on the Journals shelves.
Looking for some journal articles about your research topic? USearch is a great place to start. It searches through 80,000 full-text e-journals and a range of individual databases at the same time. Take a look at the short video below on how to search it effectively. No matter what the subject is, the search principles will be the same.
Although USearch is an excellent start, you will also need to search other database sources as each source covers different content. The most useful ones for youth work and community development are listed below.
Other recommended databases sources can be found on the Library Databases tab above.
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If the item you want is not available from Ulster sources, the Library's Document Delivery service can request material from the British Library and elsewhere. |
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You may request books and articles using the Online Request Form Article requests will usually be sent to you electronically for download so you must REGISTER for British Library's On Demand service prior to requesting and read the guidance on Secure Electronic Delivery (SED). Book requests will be supplied as loans. There is no charge for either service, although weekly limits may apply. |
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Google's Scholar search finds journal articles or other high quality information. It limits results to academic-related sources, such as peer reviewed journals, research based working papers, books and other scholarly resources.
However, unlike Library databases, it has limited search options, restricted search size and prioritises keywords appearing first in your search strategy, so we recommend that it should not be your sole source of information. Use in combination with appropriate Library databases.
Follow the steps shown in this video http://screencast.com/t/GGEmSfm6 to get links to full text sources held at Ulster. .
To export any references to the Refworks database, go to the Scholar settings, choose the Bibliography Manager option and select 'Show links to import citations into' Refworks.
For more information on Google Scholar, including search tips and citation metrics see: http://scholar.google.co.uk/intl/en/scholar/about.html
If you intend to use the 'full' Google, check Settings for advanced search tips to improve the accuracy of your search. Northampton University also has a useful video - Ten Tips for Google Searching.
