Visual Arts

What is a Journal?

A journal is a collection of articles, written by different people.  A journal will focus on a topic or subject and the articles published within it all relate to that topic.  They are published at regular intervals and can be a key source of research and academic information.

There are several different types of journal that you can access:

• Academic/scholarly journals - these include research and are often peer reviewed (other experts in the field evaluate the article before it is accepted for publication to ensure quality is maintained).

• Trade or professional magazines - aimed at people interested in or working in a particular area.  Often include articles, reviews, features and news.

What is an article?

Journals are made up of articles, these are  individual pieces of research written by an academic, professional or expert on a particular subject or topic.  They are published together with other articles by other authors in a journal.  However, they don’t go into as much detail as books.  

How do I find journal articles?
 

1) Check your Reading list!

• If your lecturer has recommended some titles they will appear in your reading list.  Click on the induvial titles from your reading list and follow the access instructions to open the record.  

• It's always a good idea to reference some journal articles from recommended sources in your assignments

2) Do a quick search on the 'Articles' tab via the Library Catalogue

• Refine your results using the Peer-reviewed Journals option from the left-hand menu (this then lists articles from the most scholarly journals)

• Make use of the catalogue links within the record access the article; many of the records give one-click (more if you need to go through login) access through to articles.
• Get PDF and Read Online links open the article directly – you may need to log into the database provider.
• View Access Options link expands the catalogue record and displays the article's access details.
• The links show like this in the catalogue:

The Articles tab is very general and you may get a lot of results which are not relevant. 

3) Use a Library eResource

• Here you can locate journal articles on specific topics which are directly aimed at your subject area.  Find details in the Databases (eResources) section on the left.
   

The Library pays for you to have access to these key resources and you will improve your marks if you read and reference appropriate library materials in your work!

Google Scholar is a search engine that allows you to search for more academic content on the web.  You can use it to track down journal articles, book details and more.  You can set it up to show you which results you can access via a Solent University library subscription.
 

Link to full text content from Solent University Library

This will tell you if the Library has a copy of the article for you to read or not.  To set this up on your device:

• In Scholar, click on the icon in the top left corner:  
• Select Settings and then select 'Library Links'.  Enter 'Solent' in the search box then select Solent University - Is it @ Solent and Save. 
• Any results available via Solent will now show this link to give you access: ​​

OFF CAMPUS: You must check the access information for each article via the Is It @ Solent screens and login to view. 

Send reference details to RefWorks

Set up a link to 'Import into RefWorks' for each result in your list.  To set this up, go into the  menu, select Settings and in the 'Bibliography Manager' section, select RefWorks and save.

Basic and Advanced search
Enter your search terms into the Basic search box.  If you want more control over your search, you can access the Advanced search via the  icon.

Results list

Your results list will include a number of options for each result where you can view other items that might be of interest, mark the item to read later and send the reference to RefWorks etc.

• Select the to add the article to your 'My library'.
• Cited by: links you to other resources which have referenced (cited) that document.
• Related articles: see a list of other articles you may be interested in.
• Import into RefWorks: send the reference details into RefWorks (or use the option under the  to send to RefWorks).

My Library

Sign in and access articles you have saved.  Save articles by clicking on the star icon beside it in the results list.