Find Items in a Reference List

A quick way to find additional resources for a research paper is to use references from textbooks, readings packages, key articles, etc. Reference lists (or bibliographies or works cited) are found at the end of most scholarly publications and can lead you to other relevant resources for your research.

Check the examples below for tips on locating sources listed in reference lists.

Finding Books and Book Chapters

Typical book citation:

Elkins, J. (2007). Is art history global? New York: Routledge.

It's probably a book if... the citation contains author, title, and publication details, but no volume or issue number, no URL etc. 

Find it by... completing a title search in the library catalogue.

Typical chapter citation:

Thompson, R. A. (2009). Relationships, stress, and memory. In J. A. Quas & R. Fivush (Eds.), Emotion and memory in development: Biological, cognitive, and social considerations (pp. 355-373). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

It’s probably a chapter from a book if... the citation contains two titles, and the word In appears after the first title.

Find it by... completing a search for the title of the book (not the chapter title) in the library catalogue.

Finding Journal Articles

Typical citations for articles from electronic journals:

Bergin, C., & Bergin, D. (2009). Attachment in the Classroom. Educational Psychology Review, 21(2), 141-170. doi: 10.1007/s10648-009-9104-0.

Phillion, J. (2003). Obstacles to accessing the teaching profession for immigrant women. Multicultural Education, 11(1), 41-45. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3935/is_200310/ai_n9322323.

It’s probably an article from an e-journal if...

• In addition to author, journal title, and article title etc., the citation also contains a DOI (Digital Object Identifier), a long alphanumeric sequence which links directly to a particular article.
• In addition to author, journal title, and article title etc., the citation also contains a permanent URL linking directly to the article.

Find it by... searching for the article in USearch.

Typical citation for articles from print journals:

Williamson, T. (1997). Knowledge as evidence. Mind, 106, 717-741.

It’s probably a journal article if... the citation contains author, two titles, as well as volume, issue (not always present), and page numbers.

Find it by... completing a search for the title of the journal (not the title of the article) in the library catalogue. You can also try searching for the article in USearch to see if we have online access.

Quick Search Using Google Scholar

You can also quickly copy and paste your reference into Google Scholar to see if you have access to the material.

Set your preferences within Google Scholar to ensure you have all-access to USask licensed resources:

1. Select Settings from the top of the Google Scholar screen before you search.
2. Select Library Links from the left side.
3. In the Library Links text box, type University of Saskatchewan and then select the search button.
4. Select the boxes beside both results. Hit the Save button. This preference will now be saved for any future searches on this computer. You will need to repeat this process for any additional computers you use.
5. Back on the search screen, enter your search terms.
6. Once you find an article you like, you can click on FullText@UofSLibrary or the article title. Clicking on FullText@UofS will redirect you through the library's website. Clicking on the title will bring you directly to the database and article, and you can use the Proxy Bookmarklet to access the content.