LibGuides: Natural Science: Journal Articles

Google Scholar Search

Lib X - "Find it at York" using Google Scholar

You can use Google Scholar to easily find articles at York University.
Just download LibX, a plugin for Firefox or Internet Explorer.

LibX is very useful. It gives quick and easy access to the library’s catalogue and online journals. We’ve specially customized a version for use by York people.

Finding relevant resources in the library couldn’t be easier.

Download it here.

Indexes & Databases

Indexes and Databases bring together a number of different online journals and other resources into one search engine. Use these tools to find citations, abstracts and/or full text articles, reports and other resources on your topic. Both scholarly and popular articles may be included.

Web of Science
Indexes 8,5000 research journals across the Social Sciences, Sciences and Arts & Humanities. Allows you to search for articles by subject, author, journal and author address as well as for articles that cite a known author or work (citation searching). Coverage is from 1945 - present.
Scopus
Covers nearly 18,000 periodical titles from some 5,000 publishers. Provides coverage in all subject areas with particular strength in the sciences. Coverage is back to 1996. Effective for finding post-1996 cited references for articles.
History of Science, Technology and Medicine
Describes journal articles, conference proceedings, books, book reviews, and dissertations in the history of science, technology, and medicine and allied historical fields. The database integrates the Isis Current Bibliography of the History of Science, the Current Bibliography in the History of Technology (Technology and Culture), the Bibliografia Italiana di Storia della Scienza and the Wellcome Library for the History and Understanding of Medicine. Updated quarterly; covers 1975-present.
JSTOR
Used by millions for research, teaching, and learning. With more than a thousand academic journals and over 1 million images, letters, and other primary sources, JSTOR is one of the world's most trusted sources for academic content.
Scholars Portal Journals
Almost 9,000 full-text academic journals covering a wide range of academic disciplines. Keyword searching to identify articles on different topics is supported.
General Science Abstracts
Indexes general science topics in the life sciences, physical and chemical sciences and medicine. Covers subjects such as biology, botany, conservation, earth science and environment. It covers a variety of document types including feature articles, interviews, book reviews, biographies, obituaries, product evaluations and practical do-it-yourself information. Appropriate for beginning undergraduate science and natural science students who need to search general science topics.
Social Sciences Abstracts
Indexes journals from a wide variety of social science disciplines and interdisciplinary fields. These fields include psychology, sociology, urban studies, etc. Emphasis is on the United States with some international coverage. Coverage is from 1994 - present
ProQuest
A single search screen that provides access to multiple databases for searching literature in a number of disciplines. It is possible to search across all 50 + Proquest databases or to limit searches to subject areas including business, health and medicine, history, literature and languages, social sciences and more.
Academic OneFile
Provides access to full-text of more than 4500 scholarly and popular periodicals with indexing for thousands more. Coverage of a wide variety of topics in the humanities, sciences, and social sciences makes it an excellent database for the initial stages of research.
Gale Academic OneFile Select
Provides access to the full-text of more than 3,500 periodicals including more than 2,000 scholarly journals. Citations (or abstracts) are provided for an additional 1,500 titles. Coverage of a wide variety of topics in the humanities, sciences, and social sciences makes it an excellent database for the initial stages of research.
Formerly Expanded Academic ASAP.
Humanities Index
Indexes more than 500 journals in the humanities. Topics include archaeology, fine art, classics, communications, dance, film, gender studies, history, journalism, linguistics, literary criticism, music, the performing arts, philosophy, and religion. Coverage is from 1984 - present.

Medline (Ovid) This link opens in a new window
It is produced by the National Library of Medicine in the U.S. and covers the international literature on biomedicine, including the allied health fields and the biological and physical sciences, humanities, and information science as they relate to medicine and health care.

ERIC
The most important index in the field of education, ERIC comprises two sections: published materials (EJ) in the form of references to articles from over 775 education journals; and non-published materials (ED), including research reports, curriculum/teaching guides, and papers. Coverage is from 1966 - to the present. Links to York U holdings.
Business Source Complete (Ebsco)
Offers premium content including peer-reviewed and business-related journals, magazines and newspapers, including scholarly, trade, and popular titles. Included as part of the comprehensive coverage offered by Business Source Complete are indexing and abstracts for the most important scholarly business journals, dating back as far as 1886. In addition, searchable cited references are provided for more than 1,300 journals.
Google Scholar
A subset of regular Google, it allows users to search for articles from all disciplines. Content is heavily skewed towards scholarly and scientific information; however, humanities and social science content is present, as is non-scholarly material.

Search Tips

Databases are robust - don't be afraid to try exploratory searches using different combinations of words and techniques to target your search. If what you are doing doesn't work, clear your search settings or re-open the database again to start over!

When searching online, various words are used to help broaden or narrow your search. Here are a few tips you should know before searching any academic database:

Boolean operators: Most internet and electronic databases follow the rules of boolean logic. Boolean logic refers to the relationships (connections or differences) between different search terms. The most common boolean operators are:

AND - used to narrow a search and establish more relevant results by linking keywords together (e.g. "behavioural" and "psychology").

OR - broadens a search and get more results. Typically used for synonyms and words with variant spellings (e.g. "self-actualization" or "self-identity").

NOT - use to narrow a search and get more relevant results (e.g. "behaviouralism" not "humanism").

Truncation: used to find similar words with different endings

e.g. human* searches "human and humans"

e.g. educat* searches "education", "educate", "educational" etc

asterisk (*) searches for various different endings of a word in most databases (including York University), however LexisNexis uses an exlamation mark (!).

Other Tips

Advanced Search - this option is available on most databases, and allows you to specialize your search based on documents (books, articles, video etc), date, geographic location, language, etc.

Quotation Marks - using quotation marks will allow you to search for exact phrases. For example, searching "mental impairment" will only retreive searches with both "mental" and "impairment" together in that order.

Refine Search - many online databases allow you to specify your search criteria after selecting your keywords and clicking on search.

Finding a Specific Journal - if you know the name of the journal you are looking for, type it in the library catalogue, then select "Periodical Title", then hit "go".

Natural Science: Journal Articles

Google Scholar Search

Lib X - "Find it at York" using Google Scholar

Indexes & Databases

Search Tips

Other Tips

Online Tutorials