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Database Basics

Databases are searching tools designed to help researchers FIND information, whereas OU Libraries is responsible for ACCESS to articles.  We subscribe to both databases (paying for the indexing that the databases do) and to journals (to pay for full text access).  Every database is different; if you don't see a full text in the database, look for OU Link to Article or take the article name or journal name back to the Libraries' catalog to search manually.

OU Link to Article will connect you to other full-text options or provide a link to Interlibrary Loan to obtain the article if we don't subscribe to it.  Need help using our full text options?  Try our full text tutorial to learn about the options for access or see our Interlibrary Loan video or handout.

The Lean Library browser extension can make accessing full text easier and will even direct you to Interlibrary Loan where needed.

Some databases cover only scholarly (peer-reviewed) journals, whereas others cover all types of materials.

General Science

Life Sciences

Web of Science Help

This video demos basis Web of Science usage.  However, we do not have access to their Kopernio plugin to access pdfs.  Please use the "OU Article Linker" instead.