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:
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.
A collection of articles relating to a particular topic
Published regularly (e.g. once a month, quarterly, annually)
An individual piece of research written by an academic, professional or expert
Published together with other articles by other authors in a journal
Include the latest research and up-to-date
Cover very specific topics
Quality checked during a peer review process
List references used - good source for further research
Search for specific articles online
1) Check your Reading list!
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)
The Articles tab is very general and you may get a lot of results which are not relevant.
3) Use a Library eResource
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!
Listed below are some specific journals, written by experts, which are relevant to your course.
Search within these to find current, reliable and relevant academic information for your assignments.
These journals are subscription-only so you must access them through the links below and login using the instructions provided.
If you search for a journal title in the Library Catalogue, use the Journals option under Resource Type. Click on the View Online tab for access details. We often have multiple providers for journal titles and you will need to check the available date to select the one which best suits your needs.
Printed journals can be found on Floor 1B. Most journals are now electronic only:
You can also access the free, current content (including some articles) from IMechE's Professional Engineering magazine via their website: Professional Engineering
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:
OFF CAMPUS: You must check the access information for each article via the Is It @ Solent screens and login to view.
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.
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.
to add the article to your 'My library'.
to send to RefWorks).Sign in and access articles you have saved. Save articles by clicking on the star icon beside it in the results list.