Madigan Library: Access the Library Virtually

Depending on the database you use to find resources, you can access the library's resources in a variety of formats.  Not every article will be available in all formats.  

If we likely have access to a resource you will see these formats listed:

• Full text or HTML Full Text - this format includes the full text of the article and will contain limited graphics. This is the best choice for fast printing if images are not needed.

• Full Text - PDF or PDF Full Text - this is an exact copy of an article as it appeared in print. It will include any graphics, charts, and pictures as they were in the original article. This is great if you need the images and graphics, want to view the article as it originally appeared, or need to download a copy of the PDF version.

• Check for Full Text - these contain the citations and a short abstract or summary of the articles, but the full text is not available in the database you are in. The links allow you to see if that article is available full text in another library database.

And if we do not have access to the article:

• Request this item through our Interlibrary Loan service - this means that we do not own a copy of this article but we can reach out to other libraries and receive a digital version of the resource. This service is free of charge to students, and receiving articles through interlibrary loan can take as few as two days or up to two weeks.  

You may generally print, email or save copies of articles or citations.

You are required to log in when you access the library's resources off campus. Your username is the first part of your email address. EXAMPLE: if your email address is abc12@pct.edu, your network username would be abc12. Your password remains the same.  

Each databases have hundreds of thousands of resources.  In order to find results that you want, your search terms to be specific.  Use these tips to search the databases:

• Combine keywords using AND for more precise results*.  If you use AND between your search terms, the database will only retrieve items that contain both search terms.  If you search for apples AND oranges, you'd see resources that are about apples and oranges.
• Combine keywords using OR for broader results*.  If you use OR between your search terms, the database will retrieve items that have one or the other search terms in them.  If you search for apples OR oranges, then you'd see resources that are about apples and other resources that are about oranges.   
• This is not used as much, but you can also insert NOT between your search terms to exclude a search term from your search*.  This can be useful.  For example, if you are writing a paper on apples but many of the articles you find are about apples and oranges, you can search apples NOT oranges and the database will exclude the term orange from your search, only retrieving articles on apples.  
• Use "quotation marks" to search for phrases.  Putting quotation marks around a multiple word search term, like "honey crisp apples," will only retrieve articles that contain that specific search term.
• If you are researching a particular topic like "teaching," you can place an asterisk (*) in your search term that will modify your search.  Your search term would be teach* and because you placed an asterisk at the end of teach, the search will find articles that have the word teach, teaching, teacher.  Placing an asterisk after the search term will retrieve the different forms of the word from the stem of the word teach. 
• Use the Advanced Search feature to combine search categories or terms, as well as limit by date, source type, format, etc.

*: AND, OR, and NOT are called Boolean operators or search operators.