Students
frequently ask me how to get articles that they cannot find in the Walden
library. Today I will talk about a few alternative sources. First, make sure
that you have checked all of the Walden databases. Some that are frequently
missed- on the psychology topic page of databases (PsycINFO is the first one
listed); go down the page to "Psychology: A SAGE Full-Text
Collection." This database has many psychology articles that, for some
reason, are typically not picked up by PsycINFO. If you are interested in a
health related topic, make sure you check in CINAHL (a nursing database) and
Medline, both are available under Health Sciences.
On
the Topic page in the library (where all of the different topic areas are
listed), look in the left column for "Thoreau: Search Multiple
Databases." This often pulls up articles I can't find in individual
databases. In the same column on the Topic page is "Database by
Name". In here is Academic Search Complete. It brings up some info outside
the regular databases.
If
you still cannot find a particular paper you are looking for; if you know the
authors and title you can request a Document Delivery, in which the librarian
will track it down for you. As a dissertation student, you are allowed 30 free
ones, after that they may charge you.
Let's
say you have reached your limit on Document Deliveries or the library can't
find it. An alternative is to check Google Scholar – there is a link on the library
website.
Those
are the easy sources -there are some other alternatives. If you have a college
or university near you, you might check if they have it. If all else fails, you
can write to the author, although this will probably require some detective
work. If you know what affiliation (college, university, etc.) they listed on
the article (it is usually listed in the abstract), go to the institution's
website and see if they are still employed there. They usually provide email
addresses. You can try the email they listed in the article (also often listed
on the abstract page), however, be aware that faculty tend to move around a
lot, and it may no longer work. The problem is that you usually do not receive
any notice that the person no longer works there, so if you do not get a reply
you don’t know if they are just rude or never got it. It is worth checking the
institution's website.
If
you still can’t find the author, do a Google search on him or her; you may pick
up a clue where they work now and can try to track down an email.
What
do you say when you write them? Tell them you are very interested in their work
on X and ask if they could send you a copy of their article (give the citation
for it). Also, ask them if they have any other papers in this area. Be sure to
include your mailing address in case they want to send it that way. Here is a
sample letter:
Dear
Dr. Jones,
I
am very interested in your work on fear of pencils. I am a doctoral student in
psychology at Walden University and my dissertation is in this area. I have
been unable to locate your paper Jones and Smith (2010) "Fear and Pencils:
How do I function now?" I would greatly appreciate it if you could send me
a copy of this article. In addition, if you have any subsequent papers in this
area, I would love to get copies of those too.
Thank
you so much for any help that you can provide,
Suzy
Student
17
Hopeful Lane
Johnston,
NY 98765
suzy.student@waldenu.edu
Unfortunately, some
people are rude, and you may not get a response. The final step would be to try
to track down other authors on the paper. Next time we will have a guest post.
Do you have an issue or a question that
you would like me to discuss in a future post? Would you like to be a guest
writer? Send me your ideas! leann.stadtlander@waldenu.edu
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