Finding specific items

Sometimes you know exactly what you’re looking for, you just don't know how to find it. For example, you may already know the title of a book or an article that you want but aren’t sure where to go to access it. You could try to Google the citation, but chances are the article will be behind a paywall. So, let’s learn how to find and access materials through the library.

Your professor has given you the citation for an article that she wants you to find and read for your next assignment. The easiest way to find this article will be to enter the title into the libraries’ Quick Search box.

First, click the Advanced Search button. This will show you all the searching options available to you which gives you more control over the results you get. On the Advanced Search page, choose Articles and More. Then, click the dropdown menu and choose Title. Next, type the article title into the search box and be sure to put quotation marks around it. Why? Quotation marks tell the search engine to look for the words you entered next to each other, in the exact order you entered them. When you’re sure you know the exact title of what you’re looking for, quotation marks are a quick way to narrow down the results you get.

Finally, click search. Look at the first entry in your results. Check to make sure the article title is right, but also look at the author and journal title, to ensure this is the right one.

To access this article, click Online Access. This link takes you to our Get at KU page. Most of the time, there will be a big blue button that says Full Text. Click this button to go straight to a downloadable PDF of the article. Congratulations! It was that easy.

What if you don’t see the Full Text button? Don’t give up hope! The Get at KU page also has a link for requesting articles through interlibrary loan or ILL. This is a free service for KU students, staff, and faculty in which the KU Libraries request an item from another library and then send it on to you.

And remember, you can always click the Ask a Librarian button to get help.