As if there aren't a zillion ways to waste time in graduate school, I thought I'd take a few minutes to help other researchers and students at York University save some and make the most of theirs!
Finding research articles can often seem like a tactical mission (Saving Private Ramachandran...), but a great place to start is on the York Library website's Research Guides page. Rather than starting off on the home page and general catalogue search, on this page you can select your specific area of research and link to its most useful and relevant journal databases. I have bookmarked the Neuroscience Research Guides page, which includes other useful resources like links to theses and tips on scientific writing. The 'Journal Articles' link under 'Finding Articles" is where the money is; it takes you to a whole list of databases like PubMed, Web of Science and PsychInfo that can find virtually any research article you could ever want. Unfortunately, this page does not bookmark, but it's just one click away from the Neuroscience Research Guides page. Once you select a database, it will redirect you to a search page where you can enter any information you have on your specific article (i.e., authors, journal, article title, year of publication, volume/issue/doi numbers, etc.). Once you find your article, look for a 'Find it at York' link in the upper right corner - this will take you back to the York library server with multiple links to your article. Sometimes, articles are available for free from the journal publisher, and an alternate link will appear where 'Find it at York' will be, and it will take you right to it.
Often, York's libraries do not have the licences for more recent journal issues, but you can request a pdf copy of your article from RACER - an inter-university service that essentially shares academic resources to help York U students with a valid library card find what they need. Graduate students can request as many articles as they want/need per year, and undergraduates can request up to 25 articles per year at no charge ($5/article after the 25). You have to register with your student number before your first RACER request, and articles will be emailed to you in a pdf link, which you can access for free 5 times before the link expires. (Tip: just save the pdf to your hard drive the first time you open it to avoid expiry or viewing restrictions).
--> It has happened on a couple of occasions, but when the Find it at York link does not turn up any results, I tried searching the name of the journal in the York Library homepage, and one of the links may suddenly include the year you're looking for, and you can find your article this way.
If these tips still don't help you locate your article, try Google Scholar; if being accessed from the Air York network, the 'Find it at York' link should appear in your Google search results too.
If this still doesn't work, consider contacting the corresponding author on the article and kindly requesting a copy of their paper - I'm sure most researchers would be happy to share their hard-earned publications (and if they don't, they're trolls).
Once you find your research articles, you may want to print them in hard copy. If you don't have a printer in your lab, or want to print from your graduate bursary ($75/year for Master's students, $300 for PhDs over the course of your whole tenure), follow these simple instructions to print remotely from your laptop. Just an FYI that this service has recently changed. While you could previously add one of the library printers to one of 'Your Printers' on your computer or laptop (i.e., in Print options, just select the Printer from a drop-down list), there is now a new procedure that looks like more of an uploading process. Follow this link for all of the steps and you can quickly, easily, and remotely send your print jobs to any of the facilities on York campus, including Scott library and the William Small Centre.
Once that's done, you just have to walk to the printer, sign in with your Passport York ID and password, select the document from the queue and print away! Graduate students should see the balance of their graduate printing bursary in the top right corner, but note that some printers do NOT have this capability (like the ones in the Hebb Computer lab in the Behavioural Science Building, get on that Maleki!), but I know the printers on the ground floor of Scott Library, Steacie Library, and the William Small Centre do. This is a fast and easy way to print (for free for grad students) from the library without having to line up for a computer, logging on, etc etc etc.
If you want to analyze some data on SPSS, MatLab or Minitab, or need quick access to Microsoft Office or Adobe Pro (filling in and saving PDF forms, helloooo scholarship applications!!), students with a valid Passport York username and password can remotely access the WebFAS system that is available on campus computers from their laptops. Just install the driver for your operating system in the previous link! Sometimes, accessing saved files on your local hard drive can be a bit tricky ("C: drive on John Smith's MacBook" may not show up in drop-down menu), and there can sometimes be server connection problems, but by and large this service is very handy for those of you like me who don't have SPSS or Adobe Pro on your laptop, and need quick access without having to make the trek to the campus computer labs. Also avoid signing onto WebFAS with Google Chrome; it may not work at all, so use Safari or Firefox.
I hope these tips are helpful. Feel free to add further links, comments or suggestions in the comment field, and bookmark this blog page so you can come back to all of the embedded links provided above.
p.
Finding research articles can often seem like a tactical mission (Saving Private Ramachandran...), but a great place to start is on the York Library website's Research Guides page. Rather than starting off on the home page and general catalogue search, on this page you can select your specific area of research and link to its most useful and relevant journal databases. I have bookmarked the Neuroscience Research Guides page, which includes other useful resources like links to theses and tips on scientific writing. The 'Journal Articles' link under 'Finding Articles" is where the money is; it takes you to a whole list of databases like PubMed, Web of Science and PsychInfo that can find virtually any research article you could ever want. Unfortunately, this page does not bookmark, but it's just one click away from the Neuroscience Research Guides page. Once you select a database, it will redirect you to a search page where you can enter any information you have on your specific article (i.e., authors, journal, article title, year of publication, volume/issue/doi numbers, etc.). Once you find your article, look for a 'Find it at York' link in the upper right corner - this will take you back to the York library server with multiple links to your article. Sometimes, articles are available for free from the journal publisher, and an alternate link will appear where 'Find it at York' will be, and it will take you right to it.
 |
| Neuroscience Research Guides Page > Link to Neuroscience Journal Databases, with Songza on in the background (work music is a MUST!) |
 |
| Free access to article link (left), or link to article through York U library access (right) |
--> It has happened on a couple of occasions, but when the Find it at York link does not turn up any results, I tried searching the name of the journal in the York Library homepage, and one of the links may suddenly include the year you're looking for, and you can find your article this way.
If these tips still don't help you locate your article, try Google Scholar; if being accessed from the Air York network, the 'Find it at York' link should appear in your Google search results too.
 |
| Google Scholar search results can have free access to pdfs, or if connected to Air York, will search it through York's library website |
If this still doesn't work, consider contacting the corresponding author on the article and kindly requesting a copy of their paper - I'm sure most researchers would be happy to share their hard-earned publications (and if they don't, they're trolls).
Once you find your research articles, you may want to print them in hard copy. If you don't have a printer in your lab, or want to print from your graduate bursary ($75/year for Master's students, $300 for PhDs over the course of your whole tenure), follow these simple instructions to print remotely from your laptop. Just an FYI that this service has recently changed. While you could previously add one of the library printers to one of 'Your Printers' on your computer or laptop (i.e., in Print options, just select the Printer from a drop-down list), there is now a new procedure that looks like more of an uploading process. Follow this link for all of the steps and you can quickly, easily, and remotely send your print jobs to any of the facilities on York campus, including Scott library and the William Small Centre.
Note that graduate students now have only $75 per year of printing allowances, and PhDs have $300 over the course of their whole tenure. The price of your printing job will be deducted from this amount when you go to the terminal to print and pick up your document.
 |
| WebFAS remote access to apps like SPSS, Adobe, Microsoft Office and more! Remember to use Safari or Firefox browsers |
I hope these tips are helpful. Feel free to add further links, comments or suggestions in the comment field, and bookmark this blog page so you can come back to all of the embedded links provided above.
p.