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What Is A Database And How Do I Use It?: Accessing an Article

Reading & Evaluating Articles

Once a list of articles has been displayed, you must determine which ones to read and how to read them. You can also save, email, or print useful articles for later use.

Below you will find a list of links to guides on how to evaluate and read articles.

Key Terms

Abstract: A brief summary of an article used to help find supporting articles without having to read the entire work.

Article Title: The title is always a hyper link  that will take you to more detailed publication information when clicked. Useful for finding the citation information to create an MLA/APA citation.

HTML Full Text:  HTML is a smaller, cleaner, and easier format to read, but it might lack graphics, charts and statistics contained in the original article. HTML articles are often missing page numbers, making MLA/APA citations more difficult.

PDF Full Text: PDF is an exact scanned copy of an article and includes page numbers, ideal for MLA/APA citations. It is also a larger file than HTML and sometimes is not as clear or legible.

Scholarly/Peer Reviewed:  Articles that have been assessed and verified for quality and accuracy prior to publication by experts in the same field as the author.