The library's journal articles can be accessed in one of 3 ways:
1. PRINT
Print journals can typically be found bound together in book form and can be checked out. These are often referred to as "periodicals" and can be found on the 2nd floor of the library (on the same level/wing as Starbucks)
2. MICROFILM
You can find journals that are on microfilm in the library. Each reel of microfilm contains several issues of a particular journal or newspaper. You can look at and print from microfilm using machines called microfilm readers. Please ask at the reference desk.
3. ONLINE
The library subscribes to hundreds of journals online which are available through the databases. Each database provides access to different journals. Music Index, JSTOR, Project Muse, and Academic Search Premier are examples of databases of interest to music students. See the links to these databases in the Databases box on this page.
You can use Citation Linker to help you find a specific article in a journal.
You can use Google Scholar to find out if other authors have cited a specific article. This can help you to find other articles that are relevant to your topic and to figure out the interconnections among various articles and research.
Simply perform your search from the Google Scholar search page and then click on the Cited by link at the bottom of each citation in your results. Be aware that the number of results you find are limited to the content that is available on the web.
For advanced citation searching, check out the article "Google Scholar: the New Generation of Citation Indexes".
If you search the databases and find articles that you want that the library does not have, you can request them using interlibrary loan. Usually, it will just take a few days for your articles to be sent to you via email. Click on the ILLiad link from the article citation in the database or go to the ILLiad log in page and then cut and paste the information from the citation into the required fields (enter as much information about the article as you can). First time users of ILLiad must enter their customer information before they can submit Interlibrary Loan requests. Once you have registered, you will not have to supply this information again.
Searching the databases for articles:
See this list for databases recomended for researching topics in music. Remember that other databases in topics such as history, philosophy, and multicultural studies (to name a few) may also be worthwhile to explore. See Databases by Subject for a full list.
In many cases, databases include full text for the articles that they index. If there isn't a full text (PDF or HTML) link for an article, use the "Find It @ Fresno State" link to search for full text across all the library's databases. If the article is not available through the library, "Find It" will take to to a form where you can request the article from another library.
Search Tips: Using Boolean Logic
You can use Boolean logic when you are searching a database for journal articles. Boolean "operators" (AND, OR and NOT) define the relationships between the terms you enter in the search bar(s).
The following table illustrates the operation of Boolean terms:
And | Or | Not |
Each result contains all search terms. | Each result contains at least one search term. | Results do not contain the specified terms. |
The search heart and lung finds items that contain both heart and lung. | The search heart or lung finds items that contain either heart or items that contain lung. | The search heart not lung finds items that contain heart but do not contain lung. |