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Writing 100 (Lanser)

Advanced Writing

Following the Bibliographic Trail

Let's say that you are researching the effects of sleep on the academic success of college students and that you found a review article called "Let's Talk About Sleep: A Systematic Review of Psychological Interventions to Improve Sleep in College Students." See below for the article file in PDF. 

It has a ton of references, including this one:

Kelly, W.E., Kelly, K.E., and Clanton, R.C. (2001). The relationship between sleep length annd grade-point average among college students. College Student Journal, 35(1), 84-86.

How might you go about searching for it? Tracking down articles in this way is referred to as known item searching. 

Article Level Strategies

  • Look for the article title in Google Scholar.  For full-text, try clicking on the article title OR look under More for UC-eLinks/Get it at UC.
  • Look for the article title in UC Library Search.  Look for the Available Online link or the request form to make a request for a copy.
  • Look in regular Google.  You may be able to find on the web if someone has posted it.

Journal Level Strategy

  • Look for the journal title in the Journals@UCMerced tab in UC Library Search.  OR Search for the journal title in the Journals tab on the library home page search box.  See if the journal is available. Is the date you need available? If so, drill down to the correct volume and issue number.

Note: Some databases will also hyperlink citations, which can be very helpful. The review article mentioned at the top of this box/included below, for example, does link citations in the online version. 

Kelly, W. E., Kelly, K. E. and Clanton, R. C. The relationship between
sleep length and grade-point average among college students.
Coll. Stud. J., 2001, 35: 84–86.
Kelly, W. E., Kelly, K. E. and Clanton, R. C. The relationship between
sleep length and grade-point average among college students.
Coll. Stud. J., 2001, 35: 84–86.

Class Activity

Kelly, W. E. (2004). Sleep-length and life satisfaction in a college student sample. College Student Journal, 38(3), 428–430.

Which method did you use to see if UC Merced has access to the above article?
Google Scholar: 102 votes (86.44%)
UC Library Search: 16 votes (13.56%)
Total Votes: 118
Are you able to access the full-text (PDF) of the article?
Yes: 20 votes (52.63%)
No: 18 votes (47.37%)
Total Votes: 38

Get it at UC

Get it at UC connects you from a source citation to the resource.

You will be taken to UC Library Search where you can navigate to the full-text of the source OR initiate a request for the source through Interlibrary Loan (ILL).

The Get it at UC button will appear in many library databases. Use it to more easily locate or request the resources you need!

Get It At UC button