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Albert S. Cook Library

ISTC 780/782 Investigating and Evaluating Research in Instructional Technology

Getting Full Text Articles

If you do not see a full text article link look for the Cook Library Find It button in order to:

  • Access online full text (when available)
  • See if the journal is available in print (library catalog)
  • Request a pdf of the article if full text is not available online (Interlibrary Loan)

If you have the citation for the article you are trying to access, search the Journal List to check if the library subscribes to your specific article.  

What's an article?

The term "article" may be used to describe a variety of sources: journal articles, magazine articles, newspaper articles, book reviews, trade publications, and more. What makes one kind of article different from another is who wrote it, who reads it, and what kind of source published it.

Even academic journals publish different types of articles! In this course, your focus is on primary sources also known as empirical papers. Within the natural and social sciences, primary sources detail how the authors collected original data via a particular methodology, then share outcomes and implications. Keep in mind: Although all primary sources aka empirical papers are academic journal articles, not all academic journal articles are primary sources. Because academic journal databases don't have a built-in button to click that limits results to only empirical papers, you should:

  • modify your search query to tell the database to search only for research studies, or
  • manually determine whether an academic journal article is a research study by checking for a Methods section.

How can you tell the database to search only for research studies? Conduct your search as usual (for more help on creating a database search query, visit Search for Sources), then, using a blank search bar:

  • search for the desired type of research, such as quantitative, qualitative, or mixed-methods, and/or
  • search by desired instrument used to collect data, such as survey or interview.

What kind of article is this?

"The effect of social media on well-being differs from adolescent to adolescent" is a primary source. In the abstract, the authors state this is an empirical study using quantitative research methods.

"A Conceptual Framework Exploring Social Media, Eating Disorders, and Body Dissatisfaction Among Latina Adolescents" is a secondary source. In the abstract, the authors tells us they review original research studies, but don't conduct any themselves. Instead, they explore a new idea or theory.

Academic Journal Databases

Some of these databases provide access to the full text of articles, but some only provide access to the citation and abstract. Read the descriptions to pick the type you need.

Take One Good Article and Find More

A Google Scholar search for the known article, "To Fidget or Not to Fidget, That is the Question: A Systematic Classroom Evaluation of Fidget Spinners Among Young Children with ADHD." Beneath Google Scholar result is a hyperlink to 21 articles that cite this article. There is also a hyperlink to related articles.

Find Articles with Cook OneSearch

This brief video tutorial demos how to find articles from the library homepage. It features closed captions and audio narration. To easily navigate the many different sections of this 5 minute video, please watch it on YouTube to access the Table of Contents in the Description field.