Academic journals may hold answers

Occasionally you may need to research a particular topic in-depth, and an academic article or journal may hold the answers you seek. Academic journals are respected sources of information as often they contain peer-reviewed articles written by academics. While many journals are only available through databases to which an institution subscribes, such as those available through Thuringowa library, there are a couple of places to try for free access to academic articles.One option is to try a quick search in a search engine by typing inthe name or topic of the article and the name of the author. You may be luckyenough to find the article but it may come together with a lot of unrelatedinformation.Google scholar (http://scholar.google.com) is a recent product from Google intesting (beta version). This free service enables searching for academic articles, theses and reports from a variety of academic sources and the web. Simple and advanced searching allows you to search by keyword, author, title, publication name and date. The results will include a mix of free and restricted access articles. It is worth reading About Google Scholar section for more information on the service and to access Frequently Asked Questions.

Highwire Press (http://highwire.stanford.edu./lists/freeart.dtl) is another serviceproviding free online access to journals and magazines with a particularemphasis on science. Highwire Press provides excellent subject searchingcapabilities. When you enter search words such as "global warming" a list of related search terms such as Greenhouse Gases and Climate Change appear on the right hand side. You can click on these to further pursue your research trail.


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