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How to find magazine and newspaper articles?

• Browse the hardcopy of a particular magazine or newspaper if held in this library or the State Library
• Go directly to the newspaper or magazine online home page if known. Some sites will let you search back issues without payment.
• Use the specific Online Magazine Article Databases found on the Library Home Page

Before you start to search

All databases and search engines use two ways of finding pages:
“natural language” i.e. words, phrases or sentences you use every day to ask for what you want (basic search)
“keywords” i.e. words especially related to your topic
(See Info Guide 4: Internet Guide)

Before you start your search, list all the words, or phrases that might be related to your topic and can be used to find information.

Online Databases can present information in four ways:

• An index (only the name and issue details of the magazine)

• An abstract— a summary of the article

• Full text — the complete article (only writing / text)

• Scanned article includes all pictures and graphics from the actual source

Online Databases

The College pays subscription fees for two magazine and newspaper databases.

You can use any computer in the college or your home computer if you have access to the internet and your College network access password.

Take note : There may also be a College specific username and password required to access these databases

eLibrary

Find articles from magazines (eg The Economist) and newspapers (including The Mercury, The Age and The Australian, The Sunday Tasmanian)

• All articles are full text with an index. No abstracts, pictures or graphs.

• There is an email access to send articles to your email account for later use.

• You can search pictures, maps, encyclopaedias, radio/television transcripts and books.

• You can search with the name of specific newspaper or magazine, eg The Mercury.

• You can search for Australasian content only.

• The Source List shows every publication on the database.

• Choose to search newspapers only.

World Magazine Bank

This database covers different publications from those in eLibrary. Not all articles are full text, some have only the index/abstract.

• You can limit your search to full text articles only.

• You can search by subject heading list, publications and it has a good picture (image) collection.

• Good use of subject headings - check the alphabetical list.

• Gives email access to send articles for later use.

Some suggestions for other online databases

Some databases have free access. We have included some useful links from the Library Home Page.

Issues in Australian Society gives links to important sites relating to issues dealt with in the series of books with the same title. These books are held in the Library.

Debatabase This database offers a wide coverage of current issues from opposing points of view.

New Internationalist Magazine (no password required) Themes and back issues are available

Trends and Issues in Crime and Criminal Justice Search by subject in their publications

Details for access to other databases can be found on the College subject specific pages, eg on the Geography homepage you’ll find a link to the World Population Database.

When you find information relevant to your topic:

• Take notes. Write down the source for later referencing/bibliography

• Use the subject headings at the top of the article in a search to look for extra articles

• Cut and paste any relevant information into a Word document. (Don’t forget the reference)

• Print the article (be aware of how many pages it includes)

• Send the article to yourself by email to work on later.

• Share your search results with someone from your class who may be doing the same assignment.