IDS 4934 - Interdisciplinary Studies Capstone Experience (Korosy): Finding similar articles

How can one article help you find others?

1. Examine the bibliography of that article to locate sources used by the author.
2. Use the citation searching feature of a database to identify articles that have cited the article you already have.
3. Search for the article you already have in the library databases. Why do that if you already have the article? Because if you locate the article in a database, then you know that database covers some aspect of your subject area.

How can you figure out which databases are likely to include your starting article? Use Ulrich's International Periodicals Directory to look up the journal in which the article was published. When looking at Ulrich's detailed information about a specific journal, select the tab for Abstracting & Indexing to see a list of the databases which cover that journal, then consult with a UCF librarian to see if the UCF Libraries subscribe to any of those databases.

Specialized vocabularies -- The index terms and descriptors vary between databases. A specialized database may use several index terms to focus on detailed subtopics. A general database or a specialized database for a related discipline may use a more general term to group your topic with similar concepts.

• Examine what terms are used to index your starting article in a particular database, then use those terms to search for similar articles. Some databases have automated this process with a link to "similar articles", "related articles", or "find more like this."
• See if the database provides an online thesaurus.