Understanding Research

Finding Books

Finding Articles

Intro to articles
Databases
Article citations
Scholarly articles
Obtaining articles

If an Article is not Available Online, What are My Options?

Option 1:

If the article is not available online, it still may be available to you in print in the Library. The Library maintains a collection of newspapers, magazines, and journals.

First, use the ODU Library Catalog to search for the newspaper, magazine, or journal in which the article appears. Do a title search for the title of the newspaper, journal, or magzine (NOT the title of the article).

Next, if the ODU Library Catalog shows that the journal you need is in the library, then you need to determine whether the Library has the year and issue that you need. Read the article citation in the database and determine the volume year, volume number, and issue number. You will need this information to find the article on the Library shelf.

Option 2:

If the ODU Library does not have what you need, you may still be able to obtain a copy of the article through a service provided by the library called Interlibrary Loan.

Interlibrary Loan (known at ODU as "ILLiad") allows you to request copies of articles from other libraries when the article you desire is not available online and not available at the ODU Library. Every ODU Library database provides a link to using the option of Interlibrary Loan; the library's home page also links to ILLiad.

Next: How do I Use Interlibrary Loan?