Architecture for Continuing Education: Finding articles

For help finding a database for architecture (or indeed for any subject), see https://libguides.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/az.php

If you're looking for a particular journal article,  you can search for the article title in SOLO as well as the journal title itself. SOLO will find references to both print and electronic journals. You can access e-journals from the PCs in the Library or any other PC on the University network. If you have a University card, you can access e-journals from any internet connection using your Single Sign On.

 You can use the Journal Articles search on SOLO  to find articles on your topic - just click the 'Journal Articles' tab and enter your search. You will be able to access many articles online. You can use all the usual SOLO tools for refining your search, sorting results and you can save results to your e-Shelf. For more information, see the SOLO Guide

You can also search for journal articles in Google Scholar and use the 'Find it @ Oxford' link to access electronic versions. Scholar is the largest database of scholarly literature and gives you quick, relevant results but it lacks search tools and gives too many results sometimes.

For more structured literature searching you should use a bibliographic database. These act as subject indexes to journals and often include conference papers, research reports, book extracts etc. as well. Most databases are linked to Oxford holdings - look for the 'Find it @ Oxford' link.

If you know the title of the database you wish to use, you can search for it on SOLO.  Type in the name of the database and select 'Databases' from the 'Resource Type' option to the left of the screen.  You can also search for a selection of databases by typing a topic or subject eg 'Chinese history' into the main search box and selecting 'Databases' from the 'Resource Type' option.

Using a bibliographic databases enables you to conduct a more precise search. You can also check the coverage of the database. Make use of on screen help and links to help text, Tutorials etc to get the best out of a database.

You'll need to use your Single Sign On to search bibliographic databases if you are not connected to the Oxford network

    JSTOR is a multi-disciplinary, full text archive of key scholarly journals. It is a very useful resource as you can use it to search for articles on your topic, but remember:

• JSTOR does not contain the latest issues,  you will need to look elsewhere for the most recent 3-5 years
• JSTOR does not cover every journal title ever published

To access electronic journals and databases off campus:

Sign on to SOLO using your Single Sign On. This allows you to access most e-resources as if you were on campus. 

The Single Sign On is available to all students on award bearing courses who hold a full University card

For further information see the Bodleian Libraries remote access guide.

Here are some tips to get the best out of Google Scholar:

• Use as many relevant keywords as possible when searching.
• If you have a phrase "put it in quotation marks"
• Use a minus sign before a word to exclude it from the search.
• On campus you will have links to 'Find it at Oxford', off campus you can activate these by searching for Oxford on the Library Links option in Scholar Preferences.
• If you use Endnote or Refworks you can set these as your bibliographic manager preference in Scholar Preferences.